Please Teacher Crossroads
by ironrod
Summary: Two years after Kei graduated Mizuho is missing and his memories of her are gone.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue: Assumptions and observations: **

"As the people of Earth search for extraterrestrial life one of the many questions we should ask ourselves is: What would happen to us if suddenly we were to find ourselves face to face with a more technologically advanced society? A quick study of the history of the conquest of the New World reveals that on Earth the invading society quickly establishes a foothold in the new world and then begins expanding their sphere of influence, upsetting long established rules and customs and imposing their own. Bottom line, when two societies with differing levels of technological development meet, the more advanced one will always supersede the less technically advanced culture. You need look no further than the fate of the American Indian or the Australian Aborigine for proof of this assertion. Why then do we think that the Galaxy Federation being the more advanced, but still a human dominated society, would treat us any differently?" _(Classified excerpt from: __Interview with Matagu Shido: 2nd Lake Kizaki UFO incident.)_

"When Mizuho was on Earth for the first time, she inadvertently indicated that the Galaxy Federation was more than willing to take direct action against the Earth if it deemed necessary. For example, when we were locked in the storeroom I made the assertion that it would just be a matter of time before the Galaxy Federation took over. Instead of denying this, Mizuho told me that she was here to keep humanity from walking down a destructive path. What that meant to me was the Galaxy Federation would interfere if they, whoever they might be, feel the need. Later I discovered that after the rendering of the verdict at her trial, the Galaxy Federation decided it would forgo direct supervision of the Earth at this time, another indication of the Galaxy Federation's willingness to take a 'hands on approach' if necessary." _(__I Married an Alien:__ by Kei Kusanagi.)_

"Curiously, it was during this same trial that the Galaxy Federation decided to erase all of the surveyor's recorded observations while she was on Delta DES 8228. Why would they do such a thing? Facts are still facts no matter how you discover them, why destroy the data? Unless maybe hidden somewhere in that mass of data is a fact or two that might make somebody 'uncomfortable' if it were known.

"Now two of the surveyor's charges, Kei and Ichigo, felt they were destined to meet. However, it just seems too coincidental to me that the only two people in the Galaxy sharing the same condition would find themselves not only together with each other, but also in such close proximity to the resident Galaxy Federation observer in such a small unimportant corner of this world. To me conspiracy is a much more plausible explanation than coincidence under these circumstances. If so then, what is the nature of the conspiracy? Was more than just passive observation occurring while the observer was there? What else might be going on? Are others in the Galaxy Federation involved? What department, who is behind it? Was my observer a part of it, or is she being played for a fool as well? Important questions worth asking don't you think?"_ (Footnote from the: __Preliminary report on the Delta DES 8228 incident.__)_

Regarding the Galaxy Federation mode of space travel, we have a few tantalizing clues on this achievement. During Kei's escape from the alien's evil clutches he induced a malfunction that inadvertently caused the ship to shift into 'Dislodge Mode' by powering up the 'Parallel Motion Machine'. After Mizuho restored the system defaults, he was teleported to another dimension forcing Mizuho to follow. Mizuho managed to rescue Kei and the pair barely avoided being consumed by a black hole. (_Briefing on the 2__nd__ Lake Kizaki UFO incident:__ by Hyosuke Magumo.)_

By making a few shrewd assumptions and using the events in the aforementioned report for reference, we gain insight on this accomplishment. Our scientists know that "Faster than Light" travel is impossible in our universe. But they also theorize that the laws of space and time do not apply to regions near a black hole. The speculation is that the Galaxy Federation, using an unknown technique called 'Dislodging' are able to get around the FTL restriction by moving a space vessel from this universe as we know it, called Normal or Flat Space, into the dimension of Parallel Space. Once in Parallel space the spacecraft only needs to move a relatively short distance using conventional means of propulsion before 'Dislodging' again back into Normal Space. After the spacecraft reemerges, it is hundreds of light years distant from its initial starting point. _(From: __Special report to the SETI select committee: Meeting the New Threat.)_

"It all sounds simple enough in theory but the devil is in the details. For instance, how do you navigate in a dimension where the laws of space and time are different from our own? How do you know exactly how far to travel and in what direction while in Parallel Space so that you will be close to your intended destination when you decide to penetrate into Flat space? What do you do if you missed your target and can't find your way back home?" _(Recovered from the recorder of the Mars Crew Commander's Escape Module, voice of Comdr. Shirou.)_

So here we stand at the gateway to the infinite regions of space without a clue on where to go or how to get there. We know that when the alien's ship was about to dislodge the pilot panicked because there were no valid destination coordinates programmed into the navigation system. Obviously this indicates that travel through this medium is very risky if you do not know where you are going. So how then does one travel from point A to point B using parallel motion? Drawing from our own history we speculate they are using a tried and true technique as old as sailing itself. We think the answer could be that they simply use navigational buoys or beacons to mark the way similar to how we use a lighthouse. In practice they would probably function very similar to today's GPS satellites. Deployed in pairs, one beacon would be anchored you might say, by placing it in orbit around a planet or moon in Normal Space with the other one in a corresponding region of Parallel Space. What you would use to chain the two together is anybody's guess but we suspect that these beacons would be in constant communication with one another, continuously updating the position of the Parallel Space beacon relative to its Normal Space equivalent. _(From: __Special report to the SETI select committee: Speculations on Traveling among the Stars.)_

"Interstellar travel for the Galaxy Federation is really very simple, they 'Dislodge' into Parallel Space, move towards the appropriate relay then 'Dislodge' back into Normal Space. A troubling question arises for me then: If they cannot navigate in Parallel Space without these relays to guide them then: How were the aforesaid navigation relays placed there in the beginning? Aye, now there's the rub." _(Excerpt from the: __Diary of Commander Shirou__.)_

**Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 1**

"_Hate him? Of course I hate him! Like it or not he is the root cause of all our problems." Maho Kazami._

"At the foot of the northern end of the Japanese Alps sits Lake Kizaki my home. It's one of the Nishina Three Lakes, the other two being Lake Aoki and Lake Nakatsuna, for those of you who care. I first came to live here about five years ago. I had come here to reset my life, to start again. Seems funny that someone who was only fifteen at the time would need to start over, but that was why I was here.

"You see, I went to bed one night at the age of fifteen, still in a state of shock after witnessing my sister take her own life, and when I woke again three years had gone by. It might not sound very bad, sleeping away those turbulent years of being a teenager. The problem for me was that I did not age at all during that entire time and the horror of my sister's suicide still remained fresh in my memory, locked away in my subconscious. My friends had all gone on with their lives and some were even married. Unfortunately for me, I still had the body and the emotional development of a fifteen-year-old kid. The people I once called friends would laugh and poke fun at me. My lack of maturity made it so I could not understand the hidden innuendos in their conversations, which made me too tempting a target for their jabs. I can't say if they really meant to be cruel about it but it was obvious that my presence made them uncomfortable. I guess they didn't want me around as a reminder of what they were like three short years ago. So they did their best to drive me away.

"Even though I still looked fifteen I could not make new friends at my own emotional level because everybody who knew about me thought I was some kind of freak. The younger kids would shy away and their friends and parents would ostracize anybody who would want to be my friend. It was horrible, this emptiness that comes over you when you find your whole life turned upside down. When everything you knew changed, when all your friends and even your parents have become strangers.

"My parents decided it would be better if they sent me away, to a place where no one knew me, where I would be accepted as just another new kid and people wouldn't ask me embarrassing questions. So I came here to Lake Kizaki to live with my Aunt and Uncle and restart my life. I looked fifteen; I had the physical and emotional maturity of a fifteen-year-old. So everybody just assumed that was how old I really was, which was fine by me. I was happy for a while too. True my disease would come back every so often, but only for a few hours or a day at most. So I continued to age, to move forward, as my friend Ichigo likes to call it. Until the specter of my sister once again emerged and tried to seduce me into death. But then she came, a beautiful woman with the promise of a real life, one we would share together. A life filled with hope and sadness, of success and failure. With that promise the disease went away completely as if by magic, but who was this woman and where is she now? I feel as if I should know her name but no matter how hard I try I can't seem to remember. All I know is if I ponder it for too long the sadness comes and then I have to go hide my face so nobody can see my tears.

"That's why I decided to stay here at the school after I graduated and become a PE coach. To be honest my grades didn't allow me to aspire to be more than that. I know I should leave this place and move on but I'm afraid I will never find her if I do. So I stay here and teach sports and wait for somebody whose name I don't even know to return. Every so often I think I remember something about her. Sometimes the remembering is so fresh, so real, that I just know it's not a dream that keeps me here, yet when I try to grasp the image with my mind it slips away. When it does the feeling of loss returns, as fresh as it was that day two years ago and as painful as the memory of my sister taking her life. When that happens you can find me here in this stand of trees by the lake shore, hiding my face in them as they grow greener each day as I water them with my tears."

It was at times like this that Kei felt as if his spirit had split in two with one part trapped in his body as it struggled with its inner turmoil while the other part soared over the landscape looking down on his other self from above. "Isn't this pathetic," he said to himself as he remembered how it all began, "a grown man hiding in the woods crying like a child? It started two years ago, the day after my graduation. My disease had been in remission since the end of my 10th grade year. I woke up in my apartment alone. I woke with the feeling I had lost something, something precious, but I could not say what it was. A face I cannot see, a soft voice speaking words I do not understand plus an overwhelming sense of emptiness tearing at my heart. What or whom I lost I couldn't remember. All I do know is that sometimes this feeling of loneliness is so bad I must go down to the lake and cry, and I don't even know why."

Unbeknownst to Kei, from beyond the trees another was watching him, a young dark haired girl with a strangeness about her and very unsympathetic green eyes. "You haven't suffered enough," thought Maho, "not nearly enough for what you did to my sister! If it were up to me I'd just leave you here to wallow in your own misery." With that parting thought she disappeared into a pool of twinkling light, only to reappear moments later in Kei's apartment where her mother was frantically searching for something.

**In Kei's apartment:**

_Why did I allow it you ask? Something wonderful was happening with my daughter, something similar to what I experienced with Shirou for the all too short a time we were together was happening with her. I don't think you Earth people know just how precious this emotion you call love really is! Try living in a world without it like I have then ask me that question again. Hatsuho._

"Where is Kei at now?" Hatsuho asked.

"Down by the lake crying his eyes out like a little baby," Maho sneered.

The contempt in Maho's voice wasn't lost on Hatsuho but now wasn't the time or place to make an issue of it. Right now the two of them were dangerously exposed and if caught they could face penalties even more severe than what had been imposed on her eldest daughter. Maho and Kei were familiar to each other, or at least they had been at one time. When she met Kei the first time she was about twelve years old EST (Earth standard time) in the intervening 5 years she had grown and matured. Gone were the mannerisms and dress of a bratty 12-year-old, replaced now by the suppleness and grace of a young woman coming into her own. At 17 she now stood almost as tall as her sister, her jet black hair long and flowing stopping at the middle of her back, her bust worthy of Hatsuho's daughter. Unfortunately, she also suffered from the same malady that all teenagers suffer from, 'Know it all Syndrome.' Her adolescent mind had yet to grasp the reality that, sometimes, bad things happen to good people. There just had to be a bad guy responsible for their current situation and Kei Kusanagi, even though he was just as such a victim as her sister, had been tapped for that duty.

"Good then we have some extra time," her mother said before returning to what she was doing.

"Did you find it yet mother?"

"Not yet dear, now be a good girl and keep an eye out for Kei."

The 'it' Maho was referring to was a paradox. Her mother is looking for something left from Kei's former reality, the one where he was married to Mizuho and does not belong here in the present one. Something that if found could cause Kei to question the truth about his current existence. Hatsuho knew her daughter would have left something behind. Something seemingly innocuous with some emotional significance of their former life hidden away somewhere. Something that could be used as a means to restore their memories were the chance ever to present itself. Just as she had done when she left that box of Pochy in Kei's pocket when she was forced home the first time. Hatsuho had actually found several boxes of the stuff lying around and for a brief second had hoped that the solution would be something that simple. However, closer observation had revealed that the investigators had deliberately planted them. Obscuration through multiplication was what the technique was called, obscure one true memory by placing false associations in the subject's mind using the same or similar triggers. Mizuho ate only chocolate and the boxes of Pochy she had found were every flavor under the sun. Most looked as if they had not been touched since they were planted here.

Hatsuho sighed to herself, as she stood motionless in the middle of the room trying to solve this riddle. Not so much looking, but sensing for something with the essence of her first born on it. She had been here several times before, back when Kei and Mizuho were happy newlyweds. Back then the place looked as it really should. The home of a new couple. There had been happiness about the place, a feeling of warmth that permeated every wall. Coldness and emptiness had since replaced the warmth. Try as she might there was not a hint of anything that might have once belonged to her daughter. She knew she might have to accept the fact that nothing of her daughter's was left to be found.

She did not believe it though, the debriefing of her daughter had not been gentle but neither had it been thorough. After the investigators had overplayed their hand and were forced to cease their interrogation of Mizuho, Hatsuho had noticed that the subtle hint of a smile still remained upon her daughter's face. Hatsuho knew that smile well; she had seen it almost daily for the last two years, frozen in time on Mizuho's un-aging face as she lay seemingly asleep in the life support chamber of the Miruru's medical bay. Still, she had to admit to the possibility that what the interrogators failed to squeeze out of her the sweepers might have found on their own.

Maho interrupted her reverie. "Looks like Kei is finally back. Did you have any luck mother?"

"No," her mother replied, "so it looks like we need to go to plan B."

"But if we do that we will expose ourselves and we don't know who the other observer is yet." Maho protested.

"It can't be helped," Hatsuho replied flatly, "if we are clever though we might pass unnoticed right under the other's nose. Besides Kei is running out of time. If his memories return before we get to him then the other will surely know and we could lose him and any hope of saving Mizuho."

With an unspoken command to Miruru the two disappeared into a pool of light, reappearing on the bridge of Hatsuho's observer ship hidden safely away under the surface of the lake. In fact they were parked just a few meters from Mizuho's ship, which for some inexplicable reason had been left behind on Earth after her daughter had been repatriated.

Continuing their conversation Maho asked, "How can you be so sure that the seal on Kei's memories has become weakened anyway?"

"It's the timing of all the events and the way they add up," her mother replied.

"You're going to have to explain that one to me mother."

"Very well," began Hatsuho, "the difference between Kei and Mizuho's true ages is almost 5 years when you measure in Earth time. The time Kei lost to his disease is almost 3 years; the time Mizuho has lost is almost 2 years. Add that up you get five."

"That's a lot of almost's there mother."

"That's right, it could just be a coincidence. So now add up the exact number of days she has been with Kei starting from the first time she came to Earth, subtract for the time she was forced home then take that result and subtract it from how long she was out and what do you get?"

Maho furrowed her brow as she did the math in her head then answered, "Almost zero."

"Exactly zero," her mother corrected.

"So what you're saying is she has refused to live without Kei for the exact number of days she was with Kei?"

"Once might have been a coincidence but twice?"

"I see," said Maho, "but how could she be sure that her… would only last so long?"

"She couldn't," her mother sighed, "but I'm sure she knew it would have been pointless to come out of it any sooner, I think subconsciously she is trying to leave herself clues."

"In other words Kei's time just ran out," Maho sighed, "so I guess the die is cast."

"Time to get serious then, we must be careful."

"You're right about that," Maho assented.

**The Pain Within**:

"_We couldn't use psychotropic drugs like you would for somebody who suffers from manic depression. If we did we risked triggering his standstills again." Dr. Edajima_

Instead of going straight up to his apartment, Kei decided to stop by his Uncle's clinic next door and help himself to a glass of Sake. Knowing this as a sign Kei had another episode of depression his Uncle asked, "So what set you off this time?"

"Two of my students." He replied.

"How so?"

"Well you see, she is a fourth year and he is in his only in his second. The social stigma of their classmates forces them to try and hide their relationship. Plus, I don't think their parents are doing much to help either."

"So, I see," Dr. Edajima said as he tugged at his beard, "It's kind of hard for them to be together. They must have a pretty hard time of it trying to hide their feelings for one another when they go out in public."

"Yes they do, so they try to be alone together whenever they get the chance. I just happened to stumble upon them while she was trying to steal a kiss. It was funny in a way, both of them pretending like there was nothing going on when it was obvious there was."

"So what was it about that encounter that set you off?" His Uncle asked as he reached for a large picture chart.

"I don't really know," Kei sighed, "It was probably a combination of things I suppose, I empathize with the boy a lot, but I think it was the look on the poor girl's face that did it, a combination of half-embarrassment half-defiance. It was as if I had seen this look on someone's face before, but when I tried to remember who, the sadness returned."

Uncle Minoru looked at the chart and jotted down a few notes before continuing. "This sounds important Kei, maybe it's a person we are looking for and not a thing. It's possible these bouts of depression are related to things associated with that person. Things you are seeing in others. Someone who must have been very important to you. Someone you can't remember anymore.

"Yes, but who!" said Kei in exasperation, "I know it's not big sister. I can think about her all day and not have this awful reaction!"

"It's obvious your mind is hiding something from you Kei, something you think is very important. Don't try to dwell on it any longer; we are getting closer to an answer. I swear to you we will find it."

Kei finished his drink and got up to leave, smiling at his Uncle he said, "Thank you for all the effort you put into this," pointing to the chart. "I know this isn't what you normally do and I want you to know that I really do appreciate it."

Kei's Uncle shook his head sadly as he watched his nephew go back to his apartment. "If it wasn't one thing it was another," he thought to himself. Kei had finally fought off his mysterious standstill disease, which Minoru was convinced was psychological in nature. Now Kei was being plagued by still yet another psychological disorder. Only this one had a more familiar face, Manic Depression, but why did it manifest now? All he knew for certain was the poor kid couldn't take much more and he was helpless to do anything about it. His reassurances were sounding more and more hollow to his own ears and he knew Kei was aware of it too. Minoru was beginning to fear that Kei might be considering emulating his sister.

**Kei's dream:**

"_Dreams are the one place in your mind the Galaxy Federation can't get too. We all need to start paying closer attention to our dreams. It might be the only warning we get." Kei. _

"We're walking alone together on the beach, the moon is full, she is laughing, and we're holding hands. We're jumping from rock to rock along the breakwater we both know this is a little bit dangerous but we really don't care. Then this big wave comes along and both of us are knocked off our feet. Oh no, where is she? Where did she go? Is she hurt? Mizuho! MIZUHO!"

The vividness of his dream caused Kei to wake in a cold sweat while the sound of his own voice was still ringing in his ears. "Mizuho?" Kei questioned before once again succumbing to sleep.

**Next day:**

"_I never understood what my sister saw in him until that moment. When we get done here I intend to go shopping for one just like hiM." Maho._

"Don't you think this blouse is a little tight?" asked Maho of her mother.

"It's supposed to be," replied her mother, "what we need to happen is for Kei to be looking at you. With any luck his subconscious will remember you and his memories will return on their own.

"Besides", said her mother pointing to Maho's breasts, "It will give you a chance to try those out."

"And if his memories don't return?" asked Maho.

"Then I will need you to become, shall we say, more proactive."

"I see," Maho said, her expression turning grim.

"All right then, off to school you go."

**At school:**

"_He's like, you know, the ultimate dreamboat, I bet you that bitch Ms Kazami sized him up and already had her hooks into him by the end of her first day here." Overheard in the girls' locker room. _

"All right ladies," shouted Kei, "line up at the shallow end of the pool, advanced students into the water first, intermediates next and go hold the hand of your partner. Beginners sit down on the edge and I will assign you to a partner."

As Kei walked along the edge of the pool taking attendance he noticed a new girl, probably a second or third year transfer student with long dark hair and oddly colored green eyes wearing a school swimsuit obviously a size too small in the water alone.

"Who are you and what do you think you're doing in the pool by yourself!" shouted Kei to Maho.

"I'm a new student but I'm already an advanced swimmer, I just don't have a partner yet." she replied.

"Out of the water," shouted Kei, "you might have been an advanced swimmer at your other school but until the coach says otherwise you will be considered a beginner. It's nothing personal, just a safety issue."

"Hey," shouted Maho, "it's not my fault I had to come here in the middle of the year. Let me talk to the coach right now so we can get this sorted out."

"The coach isn't here today so you will have to take it up with the coach's assistant."

"Then let me talk to him!" demanded Maho.

"You are talking to him," smiled Kei evilly, "so get your butt up on the wall."

"Oh! You are so going to get yours buster," thought Maho to herself.

Kei continued on making his partner assignments. He decided to assign Maho to one of the stronger swimmers since she had claimed already being advanced. With that done Kei began class, starting with the requisite warm up laps. As he studied the class from atop the lifeguard stand looking for signs of any students in distress he noticed that the new student, probably in an effort to show off, had began sprinting instead of maintaining the slower pace set by her more experienced partner. He was tempted to stop the class and caution her against such stupidity but decided to wait until after the students were done with their first set. As he turned his attention back to the rest of the class suddenly there was a shout of distress from the middle of the pool. Kei looked over to where he knew the problem was and saw that, sure enough, the new student had suffered cramps in her legs. Blowing his whistle three times to order the class out of the pool he arose from his perch and in one seemingly fluid motion his shirt and shoes flew into the air as he dove into the water to rescue the little idiot.

The force of his body hitting the water pulled his loose fitting shorts from around his waist, leaving him wearing nothing but his tight Speedo bathing suit. Letting the momentum of the dive carry him to the thrashing Maho he gracefully glided underneath her rolling over as he came up behind her, executing a text book lifeguard catch and hold around her neck. With a few strong strokes, he pulled Maho over to the ledge and passed her off to the waiting seniors whose job it was to pull her from the water.

Not wanting to waste such a golden opportunity Kei decided to press the lesson home to the entire class. As he was still drying himself off he walked over to the ledge and, in a voice firmer than he intended, ordered the class to assemble so he could lecture them on water safety.

"What we have here," he began, "is just a plain lack of common sense, I don't care how good a physical shape you think you are in! You just cannot, I repeat cannot, go from a resting state to full blown exertion without warming up first! Your muscles will cramp up! In fact, the better condition you are in the more likely this will happen. Now if you go and make this kind of stupid error while playing some kind of field sport all you get is a charley horse that you have to walk off.

"However," he continued focusing his gaze on Maho, "you screw up like this in the water with nobody around to pull you out and you will drown! You will be dead, finished, kaput do you understand! Not only that, but the poor lifeguard gets stuck trying to explain to your parents that the reason their daughter is dead is because she was stupid!"

It wasn't until he was almost through that he noticed that all the girls were staring at him with unabashed admiration. Not quite realizing the why of it, he had just been elevated in status from four-eyed geek to Adonis in the last few minutes by the female population of the class. His loose fitting clothes and unassuming nature had always given rise to the assumption that he was frail and week. Now exposed for the first time for all to see was the lithe and lean young man he had become. His small muscles no longer being atrophied from his reoccurring standstills had become lean and hard. Without his large glasses to disguise them, his students could finally see the purpose and determination in his eyes. The pheromone level in the air quickly elevated, and quite unexpectedly, Assistant Coach Kusanagi just became the schools newest heartthrob.

**The walk home:**

"_I'd have throttled her if I could have got my hands around her neck. As it was I could only stand there and scream in frustration." Kei._

Normally it was during the walks home that the sadness came, if it came. Today though Kei wasn't worried about that. Today had been a good day. The incident with the new student, however minor it was, had allowed him to reassert his sense of self. At least for today Kei knew that his decision to stay at the school was the right one. The sadness might come again tomorrow but today was a good day. He was feeling so good in fact that he had failed to notice that as he was walking Maho had come up behind him and began keeping pace with him.

Kei was just going to ignore her as student teacher interaction outside the classroom was frowned upon. But then he relented and finally asked her, "Can I do something for you?"

"You don't remember who I am do you?" asked Maho.

"Not unless you count the disturbance you caused in my class today, should I?"

Maho just smiled seductively at Kei as she took his right arm and pressed herself closely to him, "Now do you know who I am?"

"No!" Kei shouted back at her in surprise, "and please conduct yourself appropriately! If you are trying to say thank you to me for pulling you out of the water today then you're welcome, but I was just doing my job so it's no big deal."

The next thing Kei knew he was standing in a vaguely familiar but still totally alien setting with what appeared to be pieces of a shattered planet floating by. As he studied his surroundings he noticed that he was standing on one of those pieces.

"Do you remember me NOW you four eyed freak!" came the voice of Maho from above as she hovered over him, now wearing her black skintight space uniform.

"Where the hell am I!"

"Oh, Hell will seem pleasant when I get done with you!" she said menacingly.

"I saved your life and this is what I get, can't we at least talk this over?" stammered Kei.

"Time for talk is done, die you bastard," said Maho. "Miruru blast this four eyed freak into space dust!"

For a second Kei didn't know who she was talking to, then he noticed the small little figure dressed in female type clothing with a tear drop shaped head floating over her shoulder. Kei noticed that the eyes of the little creature were staring straight at him. As he met its gaze Kei observed that the eyes were starting to glow red. Instinctively Kei knew he needed to get himself out of that baleful gaze so he took off running just as a lightening bolt struck the ground where he had been standing a moment earlier. As he ran for his life Kei thought to himself that there was something oddly familiar about this situation.

As the blasting continued Maho was becoming more and more frustrated by her inability to score a single hit. Finally she dialed Miruru up to full power and directed the blast of energy to a point several feet in front of Kei's line of flight. The resulting hole was over six feet in diameter and just as deep. Kei, unable to dodge the hazard as the ground was blown out from under his feet, fell down the side finally coming to a halt lying motionless in the bottom of the crater.

"I hope I didn't over do it," thought Maho to herself as she drifted lower over his motionless body. Still hovering at a safe distance she looked down checking his body for any sign of injury.

"You suckered me like this once before Kei," she said, "I'm not going to fall for the same trick twice."

Still Kei remained motionless. Carefully she prodded his backside, levitating to a safe distance above him after each time. Maho was starting to get worried, her mother had wanted her to be proactive but she didn't think that putting her sister's husband into a coma would be considered a positive development.

Finally she was satisfied that Kei really was unconscious so she landed beside him and rolled him over to check his breathing. When she did so Kei's eyes suddenly flew open. Maho had been wary of just such an occurrence and quickly levitated herself away. Faster still though was Kei's reaction, he rolled to his feet and leapt into the air and grabbed her by one of her ankles with both hands.

"Hey, that's no fair!" shouted Maho.

Kei ignored her protests and shouted back to her, "Where is she!"

"Where is who?" Maho screamed while kicking back at the hands that refused to loosen their grip.

"Where is she!" Kei said tiring but still refusing to release his advantage.

"Let me go and we'll talk about it," she said.

"There is no way I'm going to let you go until you tell me where she is! Now tell me where the hell she's at!" Kei demanded.

"Damn he's stubborn," she thought to herself. Maho then adjusted her Parallel motion compensation device (the device that allows her to seemingly float in this dimension) until her relative velocity was faster than she thought Kei could run. Then she deliberately crashed herself into the ground sending the two of them rolling towards the edge of the floating island.

Even as they tumbled about Kei never loosened his grip; it wasn't until his head hit the ground with a sickening thud that she felt his grip slacken. Maho finally managed to kick herself free and proceeded to hover just out of reach of Kei's desperate leaps.

"Where is she damn it! Tell me where she's gone!" Kei screamed at her almost incoherently.

"Where is who? I don't know who you are talking about," Maho teased.

Kei, realizing he was defeated, collapsed to his knees and started to cry. "Please tell me," he pleaded, "Where is Mizuho? Where… where is my wife?"

"So I guess you do remember who I am after all," said Maho softening her tone somewhat. "Don't worry; Mizuho is safe enough for the moment. Go home and wait for us, but remember this, you breathe a single word of what just happened and you could very well never see your wife again!"

When Kei looked up again he was on the shore by the lake, alone.

**The next day:**

"_I always knew that there was some higher power at work here; I wrongfully assumed it was a benevolent one." Kei._

When dawn broke the next day a sleepless Kei hurriedly ate his breakfast and went to school hoping to get answers from Maho. He had looked for her at school all day but couldn't find her. In addition, nobody in the school's administration office seemed to know anything about a new transfer student. Kei had had all last night to ponder his situation. Kei remembered his wife was really an alien who had fled her home planet to be with him. He knew that the people she worked for had the power to seal away his memories. He remembered that he and his wife had been married twice before in order to keep her otherworldly origins a secret. He was also sure that Maho's actions yesterday had to have been driven by desperation and he hoped that she hadn't been compromised as a result. Answers, he needed answers and only Maho knew what he needed to know. So he looked around for her whenever he got the chance, but Maho was nowhere to be found. Kei started to worry that maybe the Galaxy Federation had got to her and were now planning to take him. He decided that if that were to be the case then he would give them the opportunity to catch him out in the open. So he waited until the end of the day then started walking back home hoping that if they were to make their move it would be out in the open where he could see them coming. On his way home, however, it wasn't the GF but Maho, dressed in a school uniform, who walked up to him and started talking to him as if nothing had happened.

"You're pretty brave meeting me in the open like this," began Kei. "Don't think that because we are in public that I won't do what it takes to find her," grabbing her arm tightly for emphasis.

"I'm glad to hear it," replied Maho sweetly as she reached up and reversed his grip. "Don't think I won't do what it takes to help my sister either. Just so you know, if it were up to me, I would never have helped you recover your memories of her. I would have just left you here to suffer. But my sister loves you, don't ask me why, and that love may be the key to her salvation."

"So, that's why you acted like you wanted to kill me?" Quizzed Kei.

"That was no act Kei," she smiled, "I really do hate you for what you did to her but yes we were hoping the sudden jolt of adrenaline would act as a catharsis causing your memories to return."

"We?" repeated Kei.

"Mother and Me," she responded.

"Couldn't you have found an easier way rather than beaming the two of us into that other dimension?"

"No, we would have had to use the system for that and that would've raised a flag that we were operating outside our assigned mandate. Part of which requires that we not have any contact with the locals, especially you!"

"So what are you doing out here in the open then, if it's so risky?"

"Well," Maho said, "right now I'm doing what you might call hiding in plain sight."

"I don't understand," said Kei.

"This part of the planet, and you especially, are under constant surveillance, furthermore there is another resident surveyor close by and we don't know who they are. I'm hoping that if we are being watched right now whoever it is won't suspect anything."

"I thought Mizuho was supposed to be the resident surveyor," said Kei.

"That's what we thought too, but it was all a big lie! She was just another innocent pawn same as you, same as all of us. Dammit," she screamed, "how could we have been so stupid!"

"Huh?" grunted Kei.

"How do you think we found out about your secret marriage to my sister? It's not as if she advertised the fact that she had been discovered. We should have known then that there was something amiss. You two had to have been under close observation from the start. Hell, they probably knew the instant she stole back to Earth to be with you! That's why I hate you, if she hadn't been so in love with you none of the rest of this would have ever happened."

"Okay then, what did happen?" asked Kei. "I'm still in the dark here."

"I'm sure you've figured some of this out already so just listen and I'll explain what I can," began Maho.

"Two years ago on your graduation night Mizuho was kidnapped by the Galaxy Federation. You were taken too and your memories of her were sealed. Additionally, because Mizuho had defied the Galaxy Federation's orders not to return to Earth she was punished by having her memories of you sealed as well. However, the Galaxy Federation doesn't really understand emotions, at least not as far as you Earth people are concerned and something went horribly wrong. She went into a Stagnation, or Standstill, as you like to call it, very similar to the ones you suffered from. She's been stuck for almost two years, not living, not aging, just stagnating like you did and the Galaxy Federation is powerless to cure it."

"How can she be having a Standstill?" asked a stunned Kei. "A Standstill is a self-induced weakness that I suffer from, it's a mental disorder. How can she have the same thing?"

"Well," Maho said, "the best guess we have is that she became 'infected' by you when she used the system to enter your mind."

"That's ridiculous," scoffed Kei, "How can you catch a psychosis from somebody else, this problem is locked up inside my head a threat to nobody but me! How could just looking inside my mind infect her? That would be akin to a lab technician being infected by something he was looking at under the microscope."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" asked Maho.

"What?"

"Your mind never really stops learning, even when you are asleep; your subconscious is still processing the environment around you. Mizuho was never interested in studying your problem; she just wanted to help cure it. However, when she entered your mind the two of you were linked, not only cognitively but emotionally as well. So on a much deeper level, without her meaning to do so; her mind learned how to emulate your condition. When the Galaxy Federation took her and she was subjected to the same kind of stress, her mind must have reacted the same way yours did. Locking itself away from harm. She was like that for almost two years."

"Was?" Kei asked.

"Yes, about ten days ago she came out of it, but it's not the same as you, she has no memory of anything! Not of Mother, you, or myself. The only thing she knows is what she has been told, that she is a teacher here at the local school. Mother and I have managed to convince her that we are who we say we are, but we haven't told her anything about you or the Galaxy Federation. Since she's been awake we've kept her sequestered in the medical bay of Mother's ship, so she hasn't seen any of the technology."

"So, what are you planning?"

"With a little slight of hand we are going to release her in front of the apartment where you live and then we are going to unseal the memories of everyone around her."

"Won't the other observer be aware of what is going on?"

"Yes, they are expecting it, they want to watch their little lab rat negotiate the maze and see how she does. I expect that they are hoping the stress will cause another Standstill. That is why I'm here; if you can be there for her and help soften the blow then maybe that might not happen."

"God that's gruesome," shuddered Kei, "trying to deliberately put somebody into that condition."

"What they don't know and what we don't want them to know is that we have talked and that some of your memories have already returned."

"Just some?"

"Yes Kei, and now I'm going to ask you a big favor, I want you to place these in your ears." Maho said as she handed him two seemingly innocuous looking earplugs.

"Why?"

"Because we are fixing to send a master unlock code, if you hear the tone then all of your memories will return as well, and unfortunately you know a great deal more than anybody, including the Galaxy Federation, knows you do. If you remember too much, too soon, the Galaxy Federation might step in and shut down their little experiment before Mizuho is fully recovered. If they perceive you as too much of a threat they might even take direct action against you!"

"You know, you are asking a lot considering you tried to kill me yesterday."

"Awe, you know I never could really hurt you now? Big brother."

"So tell me, when you are done and Mizuho is all better, are you going to take her away with you and seal my memories back up as well?"

"If you thought we were, would you refuse to help us?"

"No, I wouldn't, as long as she is happy, nothing else matters," he sighed.

"Well then to answer your question. No, you will remain as you are, nothing will change, and you should continue to recover your memories naturally. If Mizuho wants to stay then that is up to her, we won't force her back into space if she doesn't want to go. One thing though, don't act too surprised. Your secret marriage to my sister wasn't all that big a secret." Maho laughed to herself as she disappeared into the twinkling glow of the teleporter.

Kei sighed as he looked at the earplugs before quickly putting them in his ears as he continued to walk home. Kei had wanted to run the rest of the distance but he knew that if he were to do so then the mysterious other observer would be aware that Maho had told him about his wife. With an almost Herculean effort Kei deliberately measured his pace.

When Kei finally arrived at his apartment, he was met by his Uncle Minoru who was smiling from ear to ear. "Now Kei don't be too hard on her," he began, "you don't know anything about what happened or where she's been, and even though she deserted you you should still try to show some compassion. That's just a little advice is all."

"What are you talking about?" Kei asked back hoping that he sounded disinterested.

"You don't know? Its Mizuho, she's back! I just saw her with her mother going into your apartment a short while ago."

With that said Kei was able to stop pretending and he started running towards his apartment and hopefully into the arms of his wife.

"Now don't be too judgmental, but don't be a pushover either." Minoru shouted after him as he rushed headlong up the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 2.**

**I don't think so: **

_Have you ever heard the term 'A Deer caught in the headlights?' Kei Kusanagi._

Kei burst through the door of his apartment and found a very startled Mizuho along with her mother and Maho waiting for him.

"Where have you been?" asked Maho, "We've been waiting for you."

"I was having a conversation with one of the girls in my swim class about her proficiency," lied Kei.

"Who is this?" asked Mizuho looking at Kei with obvious distrust, "I thought you said we were waiting for my husband."

"He is your husband dear," her Mother said, "you've been married for 4 years." *

_*Hatsuho is referring to the second time they got married here._

"I don't think so," a doubtful Mizuho said, "he looks kind of familiar, like he was one of my students, but I don't think I could ever marry somebody like him."

"Why do you say that?" asked Kei trying to contain his disappointment.

"Well for one thing there is a number of years difference in our ages, for me to be married to you for 4 years would have meant that you were still in school at the time. Such a thing would cost me my job and I would never do that."

"_Actually it was to save your job that we had to get married,"_ Kei thought to himself.

Remembering that his wife had no memory of her true origin Kei decided to try a different approach. "So, I can understand why you don't believe me when I say that I was your husband, but then why don't you believe what your mother and sister are telling you?"

"Because they are too trusting," replied Mizuho, "I suspect that you conned them into thinking we were married so you could get me alone to yourself and take advantage of me!"

"I'm not that kind of person." Kei said in dismay, shocked that his own wife could believe him capable of such duplicity. "If, as you say, you recognize me from class then you should be able to remember that much at least."

Suddenly an idea burst into Kei's mind, when Mizuho first arrived Kei remembered Mizuho was never truly able to let her guard down except when she was in his arms at night. "Perhaps if I could just hold you maybe you would begin to feel the way you use too," he said reaching for her, hoping to communicate by touch that which he couldn't say with words.

"You know, the more I think about it the angrier I get!" Mizuho said scornfully as she rebuffed his advance. "What kind of person are you to try and take advantage of somebody like me in my condition!"

Kei started to reach for her again but Mizuho slapped him and screamed, "Get away from me you God Damn pervert!"

"But we were married," said Kei rubbing his cheek, "we honeymooned on the beach! I know we tried to keep it a secret but there must be somebody who remembers us."

"No no NO!" Mizuho denied, "We were never married and there is nothing you can say to convince me otherwise!"

"Calling an unpleasant truth a lie doesn't make it any less true, and I am telling you we are married, and you are my wife!" shouted Kei. "What can I do to convince you of the truth?"

"You're lying, you must… be, I couldn't… I wouldn't…"

Suddenly Mizuho grasped at her chest, the angry fire in her eyes went out and she slowly fell to the floor. Kei barely was able to catch her limp body before she hit her head on the hard wood.

"Damn!" said Maho startled by the sudden onset of Mizuho's standstill, "this is what we were trying to avoid."

"Don't worry," said Kei as he moved to cradle Mizuho's head in his lap, "if these Standstills are like mine she'll drop off into a normal sleep and wake up in a few hours."

"If that's the case why don't you sleep over with your Uncle tonight?" Hatsuho asked.

"I think I should stay here with her," said Kei, "she might need me when she wakes up."

"You needn't be concerned," said Hatsuho, "I know she is your wife and you are worried about her but remember she still is my daughter. I want this resolved just as much as you do. Right now, we both need to worry about not overstressing her. She'll be fine."

Kei wanted to argue but he new Hatsuho was right. There was no telling how his wife might react should she wake and find herself in his arms. "All right then I'll leave but just for tonight," he relented.

Kei carried his wife into the bedroom then gathered his things and as he left for the evening he kissed his sleeping wife on the forehead. Stroking her hair softly he whispered to her, "You don't know how much I've missed you."

After he was gone Maho looked at her mother and said, "Well that didn't go as we planned."

"I don't understand it either," remarked Hatsuho. "She should have recovered her memories of him as soon as she saw him. I wonder if she is deliberately suppressing them. If so we need to find out why."

"This is going to be rougher than we thought."

"Yes it is," her mother sighed, "for both him and her."

**At school the next day:**

_Some people just don't understand. There are no age limits when it comes to love. Anonymous._

When Kei got to school the next day it was already abuzz with the word that Ms Kazami had returned, the staff and those students "in the know" started to constantly bombard Kei with questions. Kei's new found hero status among the girls was now being mirrored among the boys as the rumors spread that he is secretly married to the gorgeous teacher who just returned. But how much can a person take? Kei's reunion with his wife had been a total bust. Around midday with all the constant questioning and innuendo finally Kei snapped and lashed out verbally at one of his female students leaving her in tears. Sadly it was the older 4th year student with the crush on the younger 2nd year boy that he stumbled upon the other day who had just come to him for advice. Realizing he was in no shape to conduct his classes he departed early. When Kei returned home from the school, he forgot himself and walked into his apartment unannounced. When he walked into the front room he saw Mizuho sitting on the floor facing away. In her hand she held a copy of their marriage certificate.

"I went to the city hall today," she began, "it seems we are married after all. I'm sorry for all those things I said yesterday but I just can't fathom why we got married in secret."

Kei, not wanting to reveal too much to his already overstressed wife, decided to give her the short version.

"It all began as a comedy of errors but we got married because we were in love, we had to keep it a secret because I was still in school."

"I feel like now I am the pervert for marrying one so young." Mizuho replied still refusing to face him.

"I'm older than I look, a horrible disease held me back for 3 years but I was 18 when we got married.* Even though I was only in the 10th grade at the time. I hope that someday I can show you just how wonderful a gift your love was to me. It helped to cure me you know."

_* Here Kei is referring to the first time they got married, no wonder she is confused!_

Kei walked over to her and started to put his arms around her but Mizuho just pushed him away.

"Please don't Kei," she sobbed, "I've tried to remember, I really have, but every time I feel like some memory will surface I get a sudden panic attack. I can only assume that what you said began as a comedy of errors quickly turned into a tragedy and we wound up having a very troubled relationship and that might be why I am suffering from amnesia. So I going to be a little selfish, Kei, I want you to stay away, I know you love me but I have no memory of that love so I can't return it. So if you really love me then please, please set me free."

"What are you saying! That there is no hope for us!" asked a stunned Kei. "I can't accept that! You just got back! We should at least try to work things out. I can't believe that you are willing to throw it all away after you've only been back for a day! The way you're acting just doesn't make any sense."

"I'm sorry Kei but please honor my request, make it the last gift you ever give me, but please let me go."

"But why are you acting this way!"

"Because I don't want to stop again!" she cried, "Kei I know it must hurt, but I've already lost two years and I don't want to lose any more. Please Kei, please let me go."

Her plaintive cries brought tears to his eyes, even though Kei had not had a major standstill since he was 15 the shock of his re-awakening to a world radically changed was still vivid in his mind. He knew exactly what Mizuho was going through. Right now her life was totally out of whack, in her mind's eye students she had just seen the day before were now in college having graduated and moved on during her extended sleep. The world was changed and she was just trying to cope. He knew he could stay and force the issue but what would happen to her if he did? The situation was stressful enough on her as it was, if he pushed too hard she might go into another standstill. Better, he thought, to let her go, lest she leave on her own or worse yet be taken from him.

With an enormous sigh Kei said sadly, "All right let me get my things then."

"I told your Uncle about what I was planning to do earlier. He has already moved your things into your room next door."

"I see," Kei said staring at the floor, "Goodbye Mizuho."

"Goodbye Kei," she said with the air of finality.

It was the finality of her goodbye that took Kei aback, it just wasn't fair. He had suffered those last two years as his mind tried to keep his stolen memories of her alive. Now just as soon as she gets back she tells him to leave!

"Sometimes life really sucks." He thought to himself.

When Kei got back to his old room he saw his uncle had put it back to the way it was when he first arrived. Tears had been flowing down his Uncle's bearded face when he had walked through the door. Even his aunt was having a hard time keeping her composure. No words were spoken, none were needed. As he was lying on his bed trying to make sense out of the chaos his life had become the room filled with soft light as Hatsuho teleported herself into it.

"Was this how you felt when this all started to happen?" Kei asked not looking at her.

"Worse," Hatsuho replied, "she can barely cope as it is now. All she remembered when she woke was that she is a teacher. What do you think would happen to her if she were to discover that she really is an alien? I think that whatever little shred of a memory she has left of you is all that has kept her going this far. Thank you Kei, thank you for putting Mizuho's well being ahead of yourself. I think now maybe she has a chance, a chance to be whole again."

**Romance between Matagu and Mizuho:**

_I knew deep inside I had made the wrong choice, I just couldn't find the courage to face the truth. Mizuho._

There was a time when for propriety's sake Kei would stay over with his uncle instead of with his wife. When that happened he would often look out the window of his room to find his wife looking back at him from the window of their shared apartment. Now, however, whenever he looked across that gulf he only saw the blinds that were never opened. The hope he had been holding on to started to fade, and with each new day the hole in his heart grew steadily larger. In the back of his mind he started to feel the stirrings of the familiar fear that warned of the onset of his time stopping standstill disease.

Although he didn't know it his wife was faring little better. Mornings were always the worst for Mizuho, in that dreamlike state between sleep and reality she would always find herself reaching for the young man who once shared her bed. It was the absence of that familiar warmth that shocked her fully awake. Then she would remember that it was she who sent him away. This was a reoccurring cycle that had been going on ever since her return. In retrospect, she knew she should have accepted Kei's embrace. Now she was sure her heart would have remembered what her mind would not. Nonetheless, it wasn't pride that still kept them apart. If that were the only reason, she would have gladly thrown herself prostrate at his feet. More than once, she had vowed to reconcile with her husband but every time she started to act on the impulse, an awful fear would arise and she would once again start to feel the onset of another standstill. One conclusion she had reached, there was something dangerous lurking in the depths of her forgotten past. That made her afraid; not only for herself, but for him as well and until she new what the danger was they would both be in peril.

There was another, more pressing problem too. She was lonely, and sure, the other teachers would talk to her. They would ask how she was feeling and how her students were coming along and most seemed genuinely concerned. However, there was no intimacy, no one to share her heart with; she was quite literally alone in a crowd. Into her life had come Matagu Shido. She knew from the school records and some half-forgotten memories that he was once her student and classmate of her estranged husband and that he still carried a torch for her. It was he who offered her the comfort that she so desperately craved. She knew it was wrong for her to lead him on but her desire to be rid of the terrible ache in her heart won out. At first, they were discreet but in such a small town, news travels fast. Eventually the two stopped trying to hide their relationship and became more open.

As the days stretched into weeks and weeks into months Mizuho became increasingly convinced that the memories of her former life would remain locked away forever. So for her own sanity she began to accept the fact that it was time to reset her life and Matagu Shido was a good place to start. She knew in her heart that she didn't love him but he was kind and gentle and he did love her. With time, she hoped, she would come to love him in return.

The situation wasn't easy for Kei or Matagu, everybody who knew them could tell that their once warm friendship had cooled. To his credit, Kei had continued to treat the couple cordially. Nevertheless, you could see the discomfort on his face whenever the normal interactions of daily living brought them into contact. Everybody knew there was tension between the three but amongst the parties concerned, there was no way around it. Ichigo could see it too, but unlike the others, her special connection with Kei made the pain he felt more transparent. She knew she had to do something, and do it soon, before his disease returned. For she knew deep inside were he to go into another standstill it would be one from which he would never again wake.

**At the School:**

_I knew it was just a matter of time before Kei collapsed under it all. Kei was special to me he gave me hope. I did what I did as much for me as for him. __Letters to My Son:__ by Ichigo Morino._

It was late, the students had all gone home and most of the teachers were gone as well but in the Gym was heard the steady thumping of a punching bag being pounded mercilessly. To look at the slight figure of the young man doing the thumping the uninitiated wouldn't have given it a second glance, but those with trained ears listening to the increasing rhythm of the bag could easily discern the sound of a terrible rage being vented into the uncaring object.

"Why don't you just tell her how you feel Kei?" Came the small monotone voice of Ichigo from behind.

"It's not that simple," said Kei, "she knows how I feel. She just can't seem to feel anything back. Or more precisely, whatever it is she does feel causes her pain."

"What about the pain you're feeling? You're strong but you can't carry that weight forever."

"I was so excited when I heard she had returned," Kei said looking off in to the distance, "but when she saw me there was this blank look on her face. It was as if I was looking into an empty void, as if her spirit was gone and had left her body behind. I don't want to see that look on her face ever again."

"But she's not like that now, you can see she is getting stronger. It's only the people like us, who knew what she was like before, who can tell the difference. Maybe you should try reaching her again, see if you can help her become her old self again," pleaded Ichigo.

"I just can't," he cried, "it took 5 minutes from when we first met until she was in another 3-hour standstill," Kei said as he recalled the encounter. "Who knows what kind of trauma her mind is trying to hide from. If I push too hard she might lock up for another 2 years."

"So you will just stand idly by while Matagu steals your wife away?"

Kei's eyes started to water then he said in a haunted voice, "For me it comes down to two choices, watch her continue to move forward in the arms of another man. Or watch her stagnate while the rest of the world passes her by. I don't have the strength for that."

The normally stoic Ichigo started to tear up, Kei began to fear that she might be feeling his pain so acutely that she might trigger her own standstill, but Ichigo seeing his look of concern, took his hand and held it to her heart before hugging herself to him crying.

"You can cry?" wondered Kei as he returned her embrace.

"Koishi taught me how," she sobbed, "I can feel sadness without fear now, I can feel your sadness Kei, come on cry with me, let me share this burden with you. Let me be strong for you."

It was almost as if a dam had burst all the sadness, all the pain, finally had found a voice in Ichigo. Kei couldn't contain it any longer and he broke down and started to sob uncontrollably. He clutched her tightly to his breast as the sorrow he had been holding back finally welled up from deep inside.

Through the window Mizuho and Matagu could be seen walking by in the distance on their way to a romantic who knows what. If they did happen to hear anything coming from the Gym they were too wrapped up in each other's company to notice.

**Morning once again:**

_You would never know it to be talking to her but she has a passion that runs deep inside. Kei. _

It was the sunlight striking his face from an unfamiliar angle that woke Kei from his slumber. At first, he didn't remember where he was until he saw the slight form of Ichigo still wearing her nightgown standing in the window. The sunlight streaming through the glass silhouetted her figure underneath. Kei yawned and rolled out of bed his body still weary from last nights activities. He went over to where Ichigo was standing and hugged her from behind. Ichigo sighed and let her head rest on his arms before half-heartedly trying to break his grip.

"You don't have to do that Kei," she said, "I know you don't feel for me the way you feel about her."

Instead of pulling away Kei hugged her even tighter. "It's not what you think," he started to explain, "I haven't felt this way in years. I just want this feeling to last a little longer. I didn't want to hurt you or cause you any pain."

"The reason why we stop, you and I, is because we don't want to feel pain. So I guess that means if you are hurting then you must be moving forward. This makes me happy in a strange way to know that I can still help others in this fashion." She said as she turned towards him and smiled.

"And you are you still moving forward?" He asked.

"I don't really know, sometimes I think I am and other times I think I've stopped. I just can't tell anymore."

"How about we find out?"

Ichigo looked into his eyes and said. "If we both call in sick somebody might get suspicious."

"Do you really care?" He answered as he hugged her close to him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 3 **

_Some notes for those who have read this far. __I have never written anything like this before. __My rotten sentence structure, lousy grammar and incorrect punctuation should be evidence enough of that. Nonetheless, I have had this story bouncing around in my head since I first saw this Anime so I finally decided to try to put it into words._

_Some more notes: This is a re-editng of my first ever story. I've corrected a few grammar and spelling mistakes. (And probably introduced a lot more) I've also added some more dialog to make the story flow more smoothly and plugged up a really big hole in the plot._

**At the crossroads:**

_He had to let her go so she would move forward. I had to let her go so I wouldn't hold her back. That kind of pain nobody should ever have to experience. Matagu._

It had been one of those really wonderful evenings, where everything went perfectly. The two had started with an early meal then a romantic movie followed by some late night dancing at the club. As Matagu walked Mizuho to the front door of her apartment she had given him a goodnight kiss that quickly escalated into something more passionate. It was all Mizuho could do not to lose herself in the moment. As she disentangled herself from Matagu's embrace, he tried to kiss her again to seal the deal when he got that 'this far and no farther' look from her. Exasperated Matagu asked, "Why can't I stay the night? I mean we are an official couple after all."

It wasn't that she was a prude; after all they had been intimate in the past. It was just that she refused to allow her new relationship to cause her estranged husband any more pain than it already was, but explaining that to the young man and his burning passion for her she knew was an exercise in futility.

"You just can't." she said firmly, "Even though he doesn't live here anymore this is still the place that Kei and I once called home. It would be an insult to his memories and his kindness to me for us to do such things under the same roof."

Matagu knew from the tone in her voice that tonight's activities had just come to a close. So he decided it was time to take the next step in their awkward relationship. He knew it was a big step, but Kei had willingly made it and he was still in school at the time. He was afraid that if he asked the question and she said no then it would be the beginning of the end of their relationship. He also knew that if she said yes it would be the final nail in the coffin for his relationship with his friend. Dammed if you do and dammed if you don't, he thought to himself. Nonetheless it was better than to keep walking this tightrope he had been on for so long. He gathered his courage and took a deep breath and asked. "Then why don't you move in with me?"

"I thought you were never going to ask," Said Mizuho demurely, "but it is so much trouble having to move all this stuff what with all the books and reference materials that are part and parcel of a teachers trade."

Matagu's spirits soared momentarily as he heard her answer only to be cruelly dashed moments later when she followed with. "We will need to tell Kei though."

"Why must we tell him? It is over between you two isn't it?" asked Matagu.

"Yes it is, but still he lives next door, so it's not like we can elope into the night and for another he is your friend. I don't want our relationship to come between the two of you anymore than it already has, besides wouldn't it be better to have his blessing than his ire?"

"I guess so," Matagu sighed, "who knows maybe we can get him to help move the boxes…" _"Oh, this is going to get so ugly," _he thought to himself.

**Moving day:**

_It wasn't until after all the commotion died down and I had a chance to reflect on what happened did I finally realize the implications of what I had just heard. Hyosuke._

A change was in the air, be it fair or foul the lives of Kei, Mizuho and all their friends were going to be affected. The feeling was almost palpable but like moths to a flame they had all come anyway. Today was moving day at Mizuho and Kei's apartment. Matagu had cleverly asked his and Kei's mutual friends to help out. Not so much because he needed the help but more so that he hoped that with everybody there the move would go civilly. All their friends had come too, more so out of a need to support Kei than to help Matagu. For sometime now Kei and Ichigo's strange disease had been an open secret among their former classmates.

Even Hyosuke and Kaede, two former lovers from Kei's high school class now recently married, had come all the way from Tokyo. Koishi, the young girl who wanted to be with Kei at one time, had shown up with her future husband, Masami Yamada their former science teacher, who wisely stayed out in the rented moving van. Ichigo had come as well, worried that if Kei were to suffer a reoccurrence of the standstill disease she might be able to intervene before it set in fully.

The room was filled with boxes that were being carried out to the waiting moving van. Some of the smaller boxes were still being packed with last minute items. As the last few boxes were being taped shut Hyosuke and Kei had started double-checking the drawers and cabinets looking for anything that might have been overlooked. As they were checking Hyosuke discovered a drawer that would not open.

"Hey Kei", Hyosuke yelled at his friend, "What is in this top drawer?"

"I don't know, I don't think I ever used it," replied Kei looking over to the bank of drawers built into the wall that had been set aside for Mizuho when they used to live together.

"Well whatever it is it's stuck," said Hyosuke as he rattled the stubborn drawer for emphasis.

"Let's try taking the drawers out from underneath and see if we can't remove the jam from the bottom." Kei suggested.

"Sounds reasonable enough," said Kaede as she went over to help her new husband.

Hyosuke and Kaede began taking the drawers out one at a time until only the top one remained. Once a space large enough was created Hyosuke slid on his back under the top drawer pausing only slightly to enjoy the view up Kaede's skirt. "I wonder what her parents would think if they new she was going commando these days?" He thought to himself before refocusing on the task at hand. Looking up from that angle it was easy for him to see what was causing the problem.

"Well here it is," said Hyosuke.

"Well here what is?" asked Kei.

"It's a box taped up tight against the front," Hyosuke replied as he described what he saw, "there is no way the drawer can open with this stuck to it."

Hyosuke reached up and removed the box and handed it up to Kaede. Examining it closely she said, "This is strange, there is a note attached to the box that says it's for you Kei."

Kaede handed the box and the note over to Kei who took it from her curiously. To the best of his knowledge Kei had never seen the box before and he sure didn't remember ever hiding it from himself.

Curiosity finally got the better of Koishi who had been attracted by all the activity so she piped in, "Well why don't you open it then Kei?"

Kei opened the box and found that inside the box was a smaller box wrapped with a note that said, "Kei please give this back to me. Mizuho."

Kei opened the box and inside it was the wedding ring that Uncle Minoru had purchased for their first wedding way back in the 10th grade. Kei was visibly startled by the presence of the ring; he hadn't seen it since the day of their first wedding. Mizuho had taken it off and put it away the day he had given it to her, promising him that she would proudly wear it when Kei graduated. It was one more of the many promises they had made to each other whose memory had been stolen by the Galaxy Federation.

Although the ring might have had a substantial financial value, with his wife leaving him the ring no longer held any emotional significance so Kei just shrugged and gave the ring over to Mizuho who took it from him hesitantly. As she stared intently at the stone her eyes got a far away look in them as she started repeating softly to herself, "I remember, I remember."

As Mizuho continued to stare at the stone the activity in the room slowly came to a halt as everybody looked on. Suddenly the seal on her memories shattered and the images of her forgotten past with Kei filled her consciousness as she cried out and fell to her knees crying hysterically over and over "I remember! I remember!"

Matagu, seeing his fiancée in distress had rushed over to help her up but when Mizuho opened her eyes she looked past him desperately looking for Kei whom she spied in the background. She pushed Matagu aside and rushed to Kei nearly knocking him over as she collapsed into his arms crying, "I remember everything now."

Kei was overjoyed by his wife's declaration but he couldn't be sure if she was suffering from cold feet or if she did truly remember. He knew he needed to put her to the test, "Do you remember how we met?" he asked.

"You got scared and ran headlong into the lake." she laughed through her tears.

"And when you kidnapped me on your ship?"

"I prefer to call it a coerced course correction," she smiled at him, "but you panicked again and we caused that UFO scare."

"And when I got sent to that weird place with the shattered planet?"

"I rescued you and then accidentally teleported the two of us into your Uncle's bathtub."

"And he mistakenly thought we were seeing each other." Kei finished for her as he hugged her to him.

"Then we get locked in the storeroom and your Uncle goes and borrows the key from, of all people, the principle!" laughed Mizuho into his shirt, "And then we had to get married so the principle would let me stay. Yes, yes I remember it all. Mostly, I remember being happy."

"So," said Kei taking her by her shoulders and holding her firmly at arm's length as he stared directly into her eyes, "do you remember who you are? Who you really are!"

Mizuho stared intently at her husband meeting his gaze and without any doubt or hesitation told him that which she now knew to be true. "I am Mizuho Kazami, class C planet surveyor for the Galaxy Federation or at least I was, you are Kei Kusanagi and you are my husband whom I love more than anything else. And I remember being happy."

As Kei released his grip the other girls, not quite understanding, but still knowing that something wonderful had just happened gathered around Mizuho and hugging each other started to cry. Kei looked over to Matagu who was still trying to come to terms with what had just happened. When the realization finally sank in, he looked like a man who had just been sucker punched in the stomach.

Hyosuke, the consummate politician, came over to Kei and slapped him on the back saying, "You sly dog, you and Ms Kazami were together all this time, since before we even graduated! I never suspected a thing!"

Thinking to himself, _"So, Ms Kazami thinks she is an alien and she and Kei had something to do with that UFO scare, now that's interesting."_

Matagu was in a state of shock. In the last few moments all his hopes and dreams for a new life had just been shattered. Like a man sleep walking he took out the marriage contract he had brought with him and tore it up before walking out the door.

Kei not knowing what to say had walked silently over to the balcony and looked down to his distraught friend as he walked off into the night. Strangely at that point in time they were both thinking the exact same thing:

"If you love something then set it free." The two thought together.

"If it comes back to you then it is yours to keep forever." Thought Kei.

"If it doesn't then it was never yours to begin with." Matagu thought back.

Kei watched his friend until he disappeared from view before walking back into the room. As he did he met Ichigo, stoic as ever he could still read on her face what she wanted to say. "It's all right," she said with her eyes, "the two of you have found your way back to your true path. Remember, move forward, always forward."

"You too," he shot back, "keep moving forward even when it hurts."

Matagu looked back up from the street listening to the joyful voices of his friends and said to himself,

"Goodbye Mizuho, I hope you and Kei are happy, I really do."

Turning he walked alone into the night. He knew he should be happy for them but still he grieved for what he had just lost. The tears streaming down his face left little marks in the dust along the roadside, a visible trail of sorrow marking his passage. He made it about as far as the end of the street before his legs gave out and he had to sit down on the sidewalk. Without warning the pain in his gut became so intense that he had to curl into a ball. Shortly after, he began crying the long deep soulful sobs of a man whose heart could no longer contain the sadness.

Masami had followed him and sat by his side idly smoking a cigarette and waited with him until the worse was past. When Matagu was finally able to look at him he smiled that knowing smile that all teachers have and reaching into his pocket he retrieved a small flask. "Drink?" Was all he could offer.

**Aftermath:**

_Grateful is the only word that comes to mind. Had I never met them I would have spent my adult life as a barren old spinster. Koishi._

Happily ever after only happens in fairy tails, the reality of life is much different and Kei and Mizuho were no exception to this rule. Things weren't going so well with the newly reconciled couple; with the return of her memories had come nightmares. Kei was awakened almost nightly by his wife crying or struggling with some unseen horror and only by holding her tightly in the night was she able to find peace.

Without knowing how, Kei knew that the dreams were somehow linked to her standstill disorder. He was afraid that if they could not find a way to rid her of the nightmares then eventually she would go into another standstill. In order to help her get some much-needed rest Kei decided to go over to Herikawa Groceries to consult with Koishi on the best kind of sleep medicine they might use. As it happened Koishi Herikawa, who once had a crush on him, was also losing sleep, but for an entirely different reason.

"Koishi, do you have anything behind the counter that helps you sleep?" Kei asked, "Something that is safe to use for an extended time?"

"Sure I do," answered Koishi, "it's not for you is it?"

"No, it's for Mizuho; she can't get a good nights sleep because she keeps having weird nightmares."

"Does she have any idea what might be causing them?"

"No, not yet," frowned Kei, "we think that it might be some kind of repressed memory of something that happened to her after she had amnesia."

"Are you any closer to finding out what did happen to her?" Koishi inquired.

"No, not really, she remembers everything up till we went to bed that night, then nothing."

"Kei, pardon my curiosity but how long have Mizuho and you been together?"

"It's difficult to explain how it happened but we were married during our tenth grade year," he answered sheepishly.

"That's the part I'm having trouble with," said Koishi. "I remember confessing my feelings towards you around then and I have a vague sort of memory of you chasing after her, but how is that possible if she didn't start teaching at our school until the middle of the eleventh grade?"

"It isn't a good idea to ask to many questions right now," warned Kei, "The people who took her away play hardball, Koishi. Her amnesia was caused by these people messing around in her head. It's possible that they have been playing around inside of ours as well."

"Who are these Galaxy Federation people anyway and what do they want with her?"

"That's one of those questions better left unasked," replied Kei, "but I'll answer it anyway because I feel I owe you some sort of explanation. Basically, the Galaxy Federation is the group Mizuho worked for before she met me, when they discovered we were married they recalled her back home. Apparently, she just waited around a year then turned back around and left them to so she could be with me. They didn't think too highly of that idea, so they waited until her guard was down and kidnapped her."

"I don't understand why." puzzled Koishi.

"I don't either, like I said, its best not to ask too many questions, not until we get a better handle on the nature of our adversary. For right now all I can ask of you is to be happy for us."

Suddenly Koishi changed the subject, "Kei, I have a problem I need your help with."

"Oh, what's that?" Kei asked.

"I'm late," said an embarrassed Koishi.

"Can you define late?" asked a clueless Kei.

"Late, as in the worse possible meaning of the word for an unmarried woman."

"Oh," said Kei the light bulb suddenly going on over his head, "Did you try one of those early preg…"

"Yes I did," said Koishi exasperatedly, "and it was negative but that still doesn't explain why things aren't happening when they're supposed too."

"So what do you need from me?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you! I don't want to go to my family practitioner about this. Not before I know what's wrong. He might tell my parents. If it turns out to be that I'm, you know, they'll be devastated. So can you get me in to see your Uncle? He's an OBGYN isn't he? Please can you help me? This not knowing is tearing me apart."

"Okay, I'll ask him but I can't guarantee anything."

"Thank you, Kei you're a lifesaver. Please keep this to yourself; I'm so afraid about what people might think if this were to get out."

**Back home:**

_Insecure is a mild way of putting it. Even though I was the older he was the more experienced, which isn't saying much. Mizuho._

"What took you so long?" Mizuho asked.

"I was talking to Koishi about some stuff."

"You know when you use the words 'some stuff' it means you are being evasive with me." Mizuho said menacingly.

"Dammit," thought Kei, "she still knows how to make me feel like a student!"

"OK, let's try another tack; we were having a private conversation that doesn't concern you." Kei said bluntly.

"Damn," thought Mizuho, "I keep forgetting it has been two years and he has matured quite a bit while I've been gone, I wonder what else he's been doing in my absence?"

A few days later when Kei called over to Herikawa Groceries the conversation went like this:

"Koishi, do you think I could get one of your lunch specials delivered to my Uncle's clinic, at exactly 10:15 today." Kei said into the phone,

"Isn't that early for lunch?" Came the voice on the other end of the line.

"I figured if I asked for it to be delivered early it might offset your tendency for being late, if you catch my drift," replied Kei cryptically.

"Oh! I see, well then I will bring you our daily lunch special at the appointed time, thank you Kei, you don't know how much this means to me."

When Koishi arrived at the clinic at the appointed time she greeted Kei with a hug before going inside. All the while being observed by an increasingly insecure Mizuho.

Now Dr. Minoru Edajima OBGYN and his wife/nurse Konoha was a match made in the heavens (literally). He is a pervert extraordinaire and fortunately, (Or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it,) she is insatiable. So even if he were to get any ideas about his female patients he still wouldn't have enough energy to be able to act on them. Good thing too when you consider his field of expertise. In the course of his practice many times he has had to tell his trembling female patients those words they least wanted to hear. He was so certain that this was just another such case that he was caught totally off guard when Kei's ex girlfriend turned out not to be pregnant. What he did find, however, made him wish it was only something as simple as an unplanned pregnancy.

"No, you're not pregnant so you can rest easy as far as that is concerned," Dr. Minoru told her, "but I would like for you to take a few more tests." He had said, taking out a small note pad and scribbling something on it, "Here give this to your Doctor, he knows your medical history. He can advise you on what else you need to do. If necessary he can refer you back to me if you wish."

As Koishi was leaving, she met Kei who had been waiting for her the entire time and gave him a big wet kiss before skipping off into the distance.

Minoru stuck his head out of the window and looked at Kei. "Well she certainly was happy," remarked Kei to his uncle.

"She won't be for long I'm afraid," his Uncle said sadly.

"Oh," Kei said, surprised by his uncle's words, "What's wrong with her?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you because of Doctor patient privilege you know, but it's not good. Not good at all."

"Poor Koishi," Kei said sadly, "it seems like she's always getting a rough deal."

Shortly thereafter Mizuho noticed that Koishi started making regular trips to the clinic. On her last trip Mizuho saw her crying to Kei before walking away into the evening. For her own peace of mind Mizuho needed to know the truth and vowed to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Whatever Koishi had told Kei had shaken him so he wasn't exactly in the best frame of mind when his angry wife confronted him.

"Okay, I've had enough," Mizuho demanded, "what is going on between Koishi and you? And don't give me the 'we were just talking about stuff line,' I want answers!"

Kei wasn't used to dealing with his wife when she was confrontational like this but he knew that lying to her was the wrong thing to do. Trying to do his best to address his wife's insecurities he said soothingly, "Look, it's a private matter for her; she just needed my help in order to see Minoru on the sly is all. She was afraid she might be in a family way and she didn't want anybody else to know."

"Oh, I see," Mizuho said menacingly, "and was she also afraid that you might be the father! Is that why you agreed to help her out?"

"No!" said a shocked Kei, "it was nothing like that."

"Don't you dare lie to me! It only takes one visit to figure out if you're knocked up! She's been back here three times and you have been waiting for her each time."

Kei was having a hard time not reacting to his wife's baiting, still he remained calm has he replied, "Look, she's going through a rough time right now. I thought she might need a friend, that's all."

"Well, I need to know that you will be here for me as well, in case you haven't noticed; I've been going through hell since my memories came back! So you choose her or me right now!"

"Dammit Mizuho!" Kei finally snapped, "Don't you dare put me on the spot like that! She's just found out she's barren and she is all tore up about it! I'm just a man so I can't relate but I'm at least smart enough to see that it's ripping her apart on the inside!"

This shocking revelation caused Mizuho to instinctively grab at her chest like she was about to go into a standstill. Kei, afraid that he might have been too harsh with her, started for her but she put her hand up and stopped him at arms length.

"No, Kei I'm all right." Mizuho said softly, "I was just thinking about Koishi, about how she must feel right now. You're right. She needs a friend, but I'm afraid right now a man, no matter who he is, just won't do."

Mizuho then hugs Kei tightly to herself and starts crying.

Kei somewhat confused by this sudden change in mood decided to apologize, "I'm sorry Mizuho I didn't mean to make you cry."

"Oh Kei, you are a good man," she said laughing through her tears "but sometimes you're an idiot! Don't wait up." With that, Mizuho disappeared into a pool of light.

In the Control room of Hatsuho's ship, Maho and her mother were busy trying to repair the damaged satellite system. In essence since they were the ones who hacked the system it should have been a simple matter to undo what they had done did. However, artificial intelligence's or AI's are self-aware thinking machines that tend to ask questions, especially when their programmers give them contradictory directions. As a result the seemingly simple command, 'It is safe to resume normal operations,' was being met with opposition by the AI who wanted to know what the definition of is is.

When Mizuho entered, they could both see that she had just finished crying.

"What's wrong dear," asked Hatsuho thankful for the interruption, "married life a little bumpy lately?"

"No, it's just Kei and Koishi," Mizuho said in exasperation, "you know sometimes men are such idiots."

"That's what makes them so adorable dear." Hatsuho smiled at her.

"Did that four eyed freak cheat on you while you were gone!" Maho accused.

"No, at least not that I'm aware of anyway, but I am going to need your help."

Suddenly afraid that Koishi might do something to harm herself before she could find a way to help her Mizuho asked, "Maho can you go and keep an eye on Koishi? I'll be along shortly but first I need to get mothers help with something."

Sensing the apprehension in her sister's voice Maho hurriedly obeyed and shortly thereafter found a sobbing Koishi walking along the road. As she watched, Kei, who had apparently had the same epiphany as his wife, ran up to Koishi and started walking by her side. Eventually the couple stopped and Koishi broke down and started crying into his arms. From that distance it wasn't possible for Maho to make out what was being said but she had already seen enough. Her frustration boiled over and without warning or thinking she teleported the two of them to the shattered planet.

"What just happened?" a startled Koishi asked as she stared at the floating islands in the sky, "Kei! Just where the hell are we!"

"Oh, crap!" exclaimed Kei, "It's either a pissed off wife or an angry little sister."

"Right the second time you bastard!" sneered Maho as she floated above the pair. "Now I know why you never did anything about your friend pawing all over my big sister! You were hoping that Mizuho would never remember weren't you! That way you could keep having your way with this little whore. Well, you can keep her because I've decided I'm just going to leave you two here for the rest of your lives!"

"Kei, what is going on, who is that girl and how is she floating in the air like that?" questioned Koishi.

"Another dimension I guess, and that's Mizuho's little sister. She's highly protective of her in case you didn't notice," Kei answered calmly, "and I don't have a clue how she does that." pointing at the still levitating Maho.

"I can't believe you two!" Maho screamed, "After all she went through to be with you Kei, you go and betray her trust like this!"

"Maho that is enough!" Kei heard Mizuho shout as she and her mother appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"But sister I saw them holding on to each other, she was crying into his arms. He wants her more than he does you." Maho cried.

"No Maho, you're wrong, he was just trying to give comfort to a friend, I made the same mistake too and that was why I was crying," Mizuho said to her before turning towards Koishi.

"Well Koishi," she began, "it seems that Maho has revealed to you that I'm something more than just a teacher that has a penchant for seducing one of her students."

"It would seem so." Koishi replied, looking away.

"You heard a little of this before, but I'll give you the whole story to put your mind at ease. I was a class C planet surveillance officer for the Frontier Planets office of the Galaxy Federation. My job was to observe the people of Earth and report my findings. I first came to Earth in the summer of your 10th grade year. Kei found out about me and in order to protect my secret he married me. In fact, the ring that was discovered in our apartment was from the first time I was here. Although it started as a marriage of convenience, I quickly fell in love with Kei. Without you realizing it, you became my rival for Kei's affections. Unfortunately, the stress we both put on the poor man quickly caused him to Stagnate or standstill, as he likes to call it. Anyway, I had fallen in love with Kei and he was my husband so I did everything in my power to help him. On Earth, you consider this only doing what any good wife would do. However, my superiors thought otherwise and because I broke the rules and used Galaxy Federation technology without permission I was forced back home.

"You probably don't remember any of this because the Galaxy Federation sealed away your memories. You do remember when I came back in the middle of your eleventh grade year though. That was really my second time back on Earth, I came back in secret without permission, because I wanted to be with the young man I had fallen in love with. We don't have anything like love and marriage where I come from, what social interactions we do have are all highly regulated. If two people do meet and fall in love it is quite by accident and always with the looming possibility that societal needs could someday force them apart. What I discovered here on Earth was more beautiful than the so-called Utopia I was from. I understand now why my father was always so sad when he would tell of his home world. Your world is a place worth protecting, even with all its warts. Thanks to Kei and our love for each other, I can understand why you humans are willing to die to protect those you care for. Now I am too."

"So Koishi," interjected Hatsuho, "now that you know about us can you keep it a secret? Can you hold in confidence all of what you have just seen and heard and what we're about to show you?"

"Why should I? I have no real future anymore! So, why should I care about yours?" pouted Koishi, "Why don't you just leave me hear with Kei? Maybe then we can find our happiness without the rest of the world interfering."

"Because I love Kei, Koishi," said Mizuho, "and more than anything I want to stay here on Earth with him. I won't be able to do that if my identity were discovered. Your planet's governments would try to steal the secrets of the Galaxy Federation's technology from me. They would lock me away from the ones I love. They might even go to war over me. I know you think I stole the one you love away, but if you can find it in your heart to forgive me and keep all you know in confidence then maybe I can help you regain your lost immortality."

Up until now both Kei and Maho had been easily following the conversation but that 'lost immortality' line threw the two of them for a loop. Without realizing it the two spoke in unison "Huh?"

"Yes, Maho, immortality." Hatsuho explained, "You see a woman never really dies. A part of her lives on in her progeny. A part of me lives on in you and in Mizuho, and will continue to live on in your children just as you too will continue to live on in them as well. The same way my mother and her mother before her continue in all of us. Koishi has lost that remarkable piece of herself that is so uniquely part of being a woman. That was why Kei was trying to comfort her. Men can never really understand but he could see she was hurting. That's what makes your sister's husband such a good man. Even if he is an idiot!"

"So what will it be Koishi?" Mizuho prodded. "Will you never speak of this again; will you do that in the name of your unborn children?"

It took a few seconds for the startled girl to understand what was being offered to her. When she did finally comprehend the look on her face was all the answer anyone needed.

"Oh, Ms Kazami can you really do that, can you really help me?" Koishi cried.

"We won't know for sure until we try. Come along now and let's see what we shall see."

With an unspoken command to Marie, Mizuho teleported everyone to the Medical Lab on her ship.

Koishi, looking in awe at all the different equipment in the Med. Lab. asked, "Ms Kazami are you a doctor?"

"No," she replied, "doctors like Dr. Minoru don't really exist where I come from. Now it's all done with computers."

"How so?" Koishi wondered.

"Well," started Mizuho, "what's going to happen is the computer will make a virtual copy of your physiology down to the minutest detail. Then it begins a thorough search for abnormalities. After that, the computer runs simulations against its internal diagnostic program to determine what the cause of the abnormality is. Then it determines how to affect a repair using a non-invasive approach that reprograms the internal functions of the cells themselves. In effect it cures you by reprogramming the cells of your body so it can heal itself."

"I'm sorry if I scared you just now Koishi," said Maho, "but my sister means everything to me and I thought you were going to hurt her by taking Kei away. I didn't mean anything by it really."

"Sure you did," Koishi corrected her; "you didn't want to see someone you loved get hurt. I understand how you felt. I don't have a sister" she continued wistfully, "but if I did I think I would want her to be just like you."

As Mizuho started to help Koishi into the diagnostic chair, she had a sudden flash back, a mental image of Koishi having been forced into that very same chair sometime in the past while she was begging her for help. With a start Mizuho forced the image from her mind then refocused on Koishi who had quietly sat down and was now willingly waiting for Mizuho to attach the probes. When she was through Maho called her over to the computer console to show her something.

"Something odd here," remarked Maho.

"What's that?" asked Mizuho.

"The computer is asking if I want to update her file," said Maho.

"So what is so odd about that?" Hatsuho inquired.

"If she has never been here before then there shouldn't be a file in the system of her to update. It should have created a new file. This is very strange." Maho answered her.

"I'm starting to think there is a lot more going on here than just passive observation," said Hatsuho. "I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling."

"Never mind, for now let's just do what we need to do and worry about the rest later," hissed Mizuho.

"Okay then, here we go." Maho replied as she switched on the diagnostics.

With that the computer hummed into life and a three dimensional hologram of Koishi formed in the middle of the room as the computer began its examination.

"Is that me?" Koishi asked as she looked on.

"Yes it is," Mizuho said soothingly, "what you are seeing is a real-time virtual display of your body. The areas in the red are where the computer is sensing anomalies."

As they watched most of the red areas turned yellow then green indicating that her body was healed. Sadly two areas of the hologram in the vicinity of her ovaries remained yellow before the hologram disappeared.

**Later:**

_Up until now I was convinced that there was nothing that odd about everything that was happening. Then we found those blasted files and I knew we were in the middle of something big. Hatsuho._

"So what do you think Ms Kazami, will I ever be able to have children?" Koishi asked fearfully.

"Yes you will," Mizuho smiled, "strong healthy ones too, but you will need to be careful for the next few months. The areas you saw in yellow are where the medical computer could not make an instant fix. So what happened is the cells in the damaged area have been reprogrammed to begin a slow process of repair. Over the next few months your body will begin to naturally expel the damaged ova, once that is done your cycle should return to normal and that will be your cue telling you that you have finished healing on the inside. You need to be aware that the damage you suffered was quite extensive and well beyond the means of Earth science. But I promise you, you will fully recover once your body finishes healing."

"Oh, thank you, Ms Kazami! You know I'm flattered that you thought of me as a rival. I never considered myself on par with someone as beautiful as you. It means a lot to my self-esteem that you were afraid of losing Kei to me. However, I found somebody I want to be with and he wants to be with me too. Now, someday in the future we can have a family together, thanks to you. You don't need to worry, if for no other reason than to repay you for this wonderful gift I will never reveal your secret to anyone."


	4. Chapter 4

**Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 4**

**The Dream:**

_Can dreams foretell the future? I can't say, but I sure know they can tell you a lot about your past. Mizuho._

"It's always the same dream, one moment we are shopping the next we are in the bad place. Who are you? Why are you doing this? Stay away from him! You don't understand, he is my husband leave him alone, leave us alone! I'm clinging to his hand. Why do I keep letting go! Then they take Kei to the bad place and a familiar man is looking on as they hook terrible machines to him and do these unspeakable things. Who is that man? Who is he? Who is that woman with him what is she doing? Oh my god it's me! Stop it! Why can't I stop myself! No, No! NO!" Finally Mizuho woke herself up and as she looked fearfully over towards Kei who was facing away she said softly to herself. "They will come for me again, I know it."

In his sleep Kei answered her, "Don't let go next time, just don't let go."

**Kaede and Hyosuke:**

_We got involved with each other too soon; even so I was in it for the long haul. I had way too much time and effort involved to just walk away. Fortunately Hyosuke didn't know that. Kaede._

As any Japanese high school student can tell you, Japan's first modern legislature was the Imperial Diet, which was modeled somewhat after the English Parliament and German Diet. The Diet consisted of a House of Representatives directly elected by the people and a House of Peers consisting of high-ranking nobles. After the war the legislature was renamed the National Diet and the House of Peers was abolished and replaced with an elected House of Councilors and some of the duties of the two bodies were reallocated to avoid redundancy of effort. One of the governmental duties that fall specifically to the House of Councilors are the special committees that seem to be the bane of all civilized societies.

Now Hyosuke had always had his eye on the legislature and in furtherance of his dream had applied for and was accepted as an intern working for one Councilor Yamamoto who, among the other wild things he claimed to be, was related to the great American wrestler Tojo Yamamoto. One of the Councilor's duties was to chair the select committee on the Search for Extraterrestrial life. This was usually a cushy job due to the reluctance of most government officials, including those who sat on it, to even admit such a committee existed. However, occasionally even for such an obscure post as this you must sometimes make an accounting. This was one such time, the Lake Kizaki UFO incident was over 5 years past and still officially unsolved, pressure was mounting for the committee to come up with some kind of consensus as to the cause. The Councilor, realizing that it takes more than one person to reach a consensus and realizing that it would be impossible to get the other members of his committee to even show up, decided that this just the kind of task that needed to be delegated.

Which explains how a certain young intern named Hyosuke Magumo suddenly found himself saddled with the job of typing up an official sounding report without any evidence to back up the findings. Were it not for his first hand experience with the event it would have been very easy for him to just make up something that sounded plausible. However, Hyosuke was just naive enough to think his boss cared about what really happened that night. It was while he was writing this report that he remembered the conversation between Mizuho and Kei the day her memories returned. Setting his conscience aside, which he didn't pay much attention too anyway, and thinking that this might be a way to ingratiate himself to his boss he decided to run the idea of revealing what he knew with Kaede as they lay in bed that evening.

"So Ms Kazami and Kei had something to do with that UFO fracas, that's just the kind of inside information I need to get ahead in this rat race," mused Hyosuke out loud.

"You don't know that for sure," said Kaede, "all we do know for sure is that she lost her memories, what she thinks she is remembering now could just be part of a fantasy world she made up inside her head. That kind of thing happens you know, your mind creates false memories to take the place of the ones that are missing."

"Well if that is the case then Kei is part of it as well, in any event we both heard her say they caused that UFO scare. Whether it's hoax or reality there will still be kudos for the person who uncovers the truth."

"What about Kei and Ms Kazami?" Kaede said sadly, "even though they are married if people start poking around in their lives it will still cause a scandal. It would be impossible for them to stay here. It could very well drive them apart. I don't want to be a party to that."

"Well you know what they say," he said cynically, "if you can't stand the heat then get out of the kitchen."

"Well I still think what you want to do is wrong," she said.

"Trust me Kaede, once I get my name in the news and all the commotion has settled down it will be smooth sailing straight to the Legislature and you will be the young wife of Tokyo's newest celebrity. You'll be getting all kinds of offers to go to parties and be on talk shows and who knows what else."

"I don't want that and I never did! All I've ever wanted was to be with you. But now I'm not sure I want to stay with someone who is willing to sell out his friends. No man, or couple for that matter, is an island. If we get the reputation for back stabbing our friends we could find ourselves isolated with no one to turn to if we needed to."

"Kaede, you know I love you but sometimes I think you're naive. In politics, it breaks down into two things. People you want to use and people who want to use you. Besides, you would have to get up pretty early in the morning to get the best of me. That old bastard I'm interning for, Yamamoto, has taken me under his wing and is teaching me all about how these backroom deals really work. We'll be just fine," he finished smugly.

"I don't know what happened to you but you've changed," Kaede said sorrowfully, "I don't really think I know who you are any more. I thought you said you were going to clean up politics, instead you've let them pull you down to their level,"

"They're both adults," Hyosuke replied without listening, "they are old enough to take their lumps."

With that said Kaede knew that the discussion was over so she rolled over in their bed and feigned going to sleep. She listened to Hyosuke's breathing as it deepened while he drifted off. Once she was sure he was out she arose seeming to almost be in a trance. She quietly gathered her things and disappeared into the night.

When the sun rose the next day Hyosuke woke up to discover that Kaede was gone, along with everything that was hers. It almost looked as if Kaede had never lived there.

"Well it seems I might have upset her a little more than I intended to," he thought to himself, "She's right, I have let those corrupt bastards pull me down. Well reality sucks babe, what can I say. Oh well I might as well apologize to her."

Try as he might though Hyosuke couldn't find Kaede anywhere, eventually he became so worried that he called her parents at the lake where he was informed rather curtly that she was with Matagu before having the phone slammed in his ear.

Now Kaede's parents were never too fond of him for stealing their little girl away, but over time they had come to accept their relationship. With their recent marriage they had even begun to treat him as family. Having the phone slammed in his ear meant that his status had once again been relegated to that of an outsider. He could only imagine what she might have told them.

"Oh crap, I might as well go get her."

He also knew he had better start mending fences before things got worse. "Perfect training for the legislature," he thought wryly to himself.

Still thinking that it might be possible to salvage his situation with Kaede and still use what he knew about Kei and Mizuho he decided to stop by and visit the couple first in the hopes he could pump them for more information. However, when Hyosuke arrived at the two's apartment, he found it locked and empty. Looking through the window he saw that the room was devoid of any furniture. In fact it looked as if nobody had lived there in quite some time.

"Would you like to rent?" came a voice from behind the startled Hyosuke. Turning he saw Mr. Adachi, the apartment manager looking at him hopefully.

"No, no," he stammered back, "I was just looking for my friends."

"Not here," he replied, "nobody home, I can't rent this apartment anyway, nobody stays they all just leave and never come back. I have another room downstairs though if you like. Smaller but I bet you stay longer."

The whole conversation was making Hyosuke nervous and he started to worry if Kaede had already informed the couple of his intentions. After promising to look at the other apartment later, he decided to go over to the Edajima clinic where he met Ichigo as she was leaving.

Hoping that Kaede hadn't had a chance to tell everybody he asked Ichigo, "Have you seen Kei or Ms Kazami? I was just next door at his apartment and nobody was home."

"Not directly, I was just asking his Uncle how Kei was doing, no change there. I don't know any Ms Kazami. Who is she by the way?" Ichigo asked.

Hyosuke, somewhat puzzled by Ichigo's reply pressed on, "You know, our former homeroom teacher, the one Kei married in secret."

"Hyosuke," Ichigo replied, "Kei has been on a respirator for the last three years, and our homeroom teacher was Mr. Yamata."

Ichigo was always a hard one to read but her flat monotone expression made her seem convincingly serious. Hyosuke began to feel slightly panicky, how could Ichigo not remember the biggest thing to have ever happen at that school in recent memory?

"_No this can't be right!"_ he thought to himself. Pressing ahead he continued, "You were there with the rest of us when I discovered her wedding ring taped to the bottom of that drawer."

"What ring Hyosuke?"

"The wedding ring that I found that belonged to Ms Kazami when we were helping her move in with Matagu." He said in exasperation.

"Why would this Ms Kazami want to move in with Matagu when he's already been spoken for? Besides nobody has lived in that apartment since Kei fell ill. Most people believe that something evil resides there and don't want anything to do with it."

"This just happened two months ago. I know you can't have forgotten already!"

"Hyosuke, I haven't seen you for almost a year," she said, "and you know it's sad for me to see you like this. I remember when you had such high ambitions. You said you were going to Tokyo and clean up the legislature. Now look at you, rooting around in the mud with the pigs you said you were going to throw out and living in your own little dream world. You should have amounted to something more than this, you really should have." Ichigo nods her head sadly and walks away.

"Well then," said Hyosuke, "have you seen Kaede lately?"

"She's with Matagu." Ichigo said, "Where else would she be?"

"What the hell is she doing with him!"

"Hobson's choice I guess. You know she took it pretty hard when you dumped her."

"I never dumped her!"

"Call it what you want then," Ichigo sighed, "I remember we would just be talking about any old thing and she would just start crying out of the blue for no reason. Matagu and Kei both tried to help her get over you. They would both take her on dates and sometimes they would start mock fights to make her feel better. She knew that they were just putting on a show but it still made her feel good because of all the attention she was getting.

"They both really helped her get back on her feet, I kind of think that she might have been leaning a bit towards something more serious with Kei but then his illness returned and Matagu was the only one left standing. They were out on one of their famous double dates when it happened. I think when she saw Kei lock up like that it almost took the heart out of her. I know she really took it hard, first you left her and then Kei, she almost convinced herself that she was fated to be alone. But Matagu hung in there until she came back around. She's getting much stronger now; I hear they are even thinking about having a baby."

"This is crazy," shouted Hyosuke, "Kaede belongs to me and she always will! I'm going to get her back!"

"Don't you go making trouble for them," warned Ichigo, "she has already endured too much!"

Angrily Hyosuke stormed off leaving Ichigo standing there without so much as saying goodbye. Without thinking about where his feet were taking him he shortly arrived in front of Herikawa Groceries. Steadying himself by taking several deep breaths before going in, he entered the dimly lit store and spied Koishi behind the counter. Pretending that the conversation with Ichigo never happened he started up anew with her.

"So, Koishi," he began without preamble, "have you seen Kei lately?"

"No, I haven't," she replied, looking away, "I just, I just can't bare going to Hospital and see him like that anymore.

"Look at this," she said crying, pointing at a few barely visible strands of gray hair. "I'm starting to go gray and he still looks exactly the same as he did the day it happened. Kei will probably outlive the lot of us unless somebody pulls the plug. I can't stand thinking about that, I know I have to get on with my life but every time I see him, I wind up convincing myself to wait just a little longer for him to return. I've already lost too many years hoping for the impossible. I just can't stand the pain so I won't go back again, maybe when my memory of him dims enough I will be able to find somebody I can give myself to fully."

"Well what about you and Mr. Yamata, I thought you two were a thing now?"

Shocked, Koishi replied pointedly, "Hyosuke, Mr. Yamata was just a teacher, what would I want with him? I mean he was nice to me and all that and would look in on me and Kaede every so often to see how we were, but there was never anything more to it than that. After what happened to Kei he was just concerned about how the rest of the class was dealing with it, that's all."

As Hyosuke was pondering this last bit of unsettling news, the front door to the store opened and Kaede and Matagu walked in arm in arm. As their two eyes met Hyosuke called out her name and started towards the couple but the frightened look on Kaede's face made him stop in his tracks. To his utter astonishment she stepped behind Matagu as if for protection and hid her face in his jacket.

"Kaede, what's wrong?" Hyosuke asked, baffled by her behavior.

Instead of her replying it was Matagu who spoke up. "Hyosuke," he said angrily, "you dumped her years ago. Why are you coming around now? We have made a good life for ourselves and we really don't need you messing things up. Besides, you turned your back on your friends long ago. Life isn't a video game; you can't press the reset button when you make a mistake. Go back to Tokyo where you belong and leave the rest of us alone!"

When they were still classmates Hyosuke used to imagine what he called 'Silent flames of Fury' coming from his friends whenever they got angry. There was no imagining this time, Matagu was angry and from the looks of it barely able to control himself. Hyosuke knew it was time for him to go. Confused and lost he ran from the store and into the fading twilight. His thoughts were confused; nothing he had experienced today had made any sense. Kaede in love with someone else, Kei on life support for the last three years, Ms Kazami no more than a figment of his imagination. His mind ran rampant with possibilities.

"_What if,"_ he thought, _"what if Ms Kazami really was an alien? Is it possible that she did something to change reality? If she did is there any way to change it back, or am I stuck like this forever!"_ As he wandered about he eventually found himself walking to the Train Station he and his friends often used as a meeting place.

Calmed somewhat by the familiar surroundings he sat down on the curb and thought to himself, _"How can this be, how can I remember things the way they were and nobody else can? Is this a glimpse of my future, or is it already my past? I have to put things right but how? How can I put things right? I have to go back to where I went wrong but if I can't find Ms Kazami then I can't go back, I can never go back!_

Suddenly from the back of his mind came the persistent little voice he had stopped listening to years ago, _"That's right you fool you can't go back."_ the voice sneered. "_This is the future you made when you turned your back on the people you should have cared for. You lost Kaede's love, the respect of your friends and the future you once had. I hope you like living alone. No woman will ever trust you with her heart. No friends with their secrets. Nobody is ever going to trust you, nobody."_

As this self-realization washes over him, he starts to cry, softly at first, then harder until he is sobbing uncontrollably.

From behind the trees, some distance from the road, two pairs of eyes were watching him as he cried.

"Can I go to him now?" came the voice of Kaede from the darkness.

"Not yet, not until he has purged his soul completely." Ichigo's voice replied.

"I feel so bad for him now."

"Just think how much worse you would have felt if he had succeeded. Be strong for a little while longer."

"Okay," she said sadly.

Eventually Hyosuke stopped his crying; wiping his eyes he got up, and walked the rest of the way to the train station. As he sat forlornly waiting for the train Ichigo walked up and sat down beside him.

"Going back to Tokyo?" she asked.

"Might as well," he replied, "There is nothing for me here anymore. I guess it's what I deserve for turning my back on my friends.

"That's true," she assented, "My condition makes it so I have no choice but to just sit and watch. It's always sad when you see somebody you care about wake up and discover that they have wandered too far down the wrong path to ever return."

"Do you think that's what I did?"

"Well just look around you. Is this what you imagined your future to be?"

"No it isn't, but I thought that I would always have Kaede."

"Unfortunately some mistakes you only get to make once in this life," Ichigo sighed, "was losing Kaede's love worth all of this?"

"No it wasn't," he said, "I'd do it differently if I had it to do over. I just wonder, why did she leave me with my memories? Was this some kind of punishment?"

"Yes it was," came the voice of Kaede from behind.

Hyosuke looked up in surprise and saw the smiling face of Kaede looking back at him. As he ran into her outstretched arms he started to cry. "I thought you had forgotten all about me."

"Foolish, foolish, Hyosuke, I could never forget about you, but you forgot yourself. You were going to sell out our friends for fame and glory. I couldn't just stand by and watch you do that. Your heart is too pure. The guilt would have destroyed you. I had to do something."

"So you mean nothing that happened today was real? Kei is not really on a respirator, you're not really planning on having a baby with Matagu?"

"No, of course not." she laughed.

"I'd be angry right now if I weren't so relieved. How did you arrange all this?"

"You'll have to ask Ichigo about that, she's the one who worked it all out."

"It was easy," said Ichigo, "when Kaede called I told her to get all her things and come home. Then we made sure that you only talked to us while you were here."

"How did you get everyone to go along with it?" Hyosuke wondered.

"Don't forget Kaede is Koishi's friend and mine, we'll do just about anything for each other's happiness. I'm the one who made up the story about Kei being in a standstill. Koishi just went along with it. Matagu still carries a torch for Ms Kazami so all I had to do was tell him you were fixing to do something that would hurt her in order to get him to play along."

"But what about Kei and Ms Kazami? I went to their apartment and it was empty."

"That was easy, the two of them are in Okinawa this weekend for a teacher's conference and they asked me to watch the place. I just threw everything into the back room so it would seem empty."

"You did all this for me?" he asked.

"Well not just for you but Kei and Ms Kazami too," Kaede responded, "they are our good friends. I think one day soon we might need friends like them, although I can't say why."

"I'm so sorry to disappoint you," smiled Ichigo, "but you weren't in any alternate reality and there are no brain sucking aliens or little green men from another planet behind all this. It was just an elaborate hoax played by a small group of friends on one of their own to help guide him back to his true path."

"Darn," said Hyosuke, "I was really hoping Ms Kazami was an alien."

**Lakeside on the dock:**

_All my life I had been the odd man out, I imagine the same was true for Ichigo. Matagu._

On the dock staring up at the sky sat Matagu, listening closely as Ichigo walked up to him and sat down next to him.

"So, how did he take it?" he asked.

"Quite well surprisingly," she replied, "I think he was glad it was just a hoax."

"He is a good man," replied Matagu, "it's frightening how quickly the corruption of Tokyo tainted him."

"Don't worry; he's back on the right path now. I don't think he will so easily stray again. If nothing else the fear of losing Kaede will keep him straight."

"Let's hope so, good men like him are few and far between and god knows we need all we can find."

"Can I ask you a favor?" Ichigo said as she moved closer to him.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Put your arms around me."

"Huh?" said a startled Matagu.

"There is nothing but an empty room waiting for me back home," she said "and it seems as if I have been having to be strong for everybody lately. I just need the warmth of somebody next to me is all."

"Sure thing," he said as he unbuttoned his coat and wrapped his arms around her diminutive figure.

"Don't go getting any ideas now," she teased.

"You know when a beautiful girl asks a man to put his arms around her it's hard not to get ideas," he said to himself.

"You don't think Mizuho really is an alien do you?" He asked as he held her close to him.

"Don't be ridiculous! You've been with her; did she seem to be anything other than what she claimed?"

"Well no, but you have to admit, lots of strange stuff started happening right after she arrived."

'Matagu," she said turning her face towards him, "Mizuho was what, 23 or 26 years old when she first got here? And already married to a 10th grader in her homeroom class. Let's also not forget that Kei was trying to dodge Koishi who was bound and determined to have him for herself. Frankly, I'm surprised things didn't get any weirder than they did!"

"I guess you're right. Still it was a beautiful dream," he sighed.

"Dreams are good," Ichigo acknowledged sleepily, "they help you find your way forward. Remember to always hang on to your dreams."

From the short time that he was together with Mizuho, Matagu had learned that sometimes all a woman really wants is the security of a man next to her. So he just held Ichigo softly in his arms, enjoying the warmth of her body and fragrant smell of her hair as it washed over him. Soon she was sleeping soundly, her soft breathing adding to the rhythm of the night. As he sat there enjoying the moment, his arms around her waist, he also began to feel the subtle stirring of a new life within her. A sudden rush of warmth filled his being as he thought of Ichigo as a mother.

"Sleep little one," he said softly, "you sure have earned your rest this day. I'll keep you safe tonight. I'll keep you safe."


	5. Chapter 5

**Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 5**

_Some notes on this chapter: The argument between Kei and Mizuho has some harsh language, so don't read if you are easily offended. In the original draft I used a cheap writer's trick to resolve the situation with Ichigo. The end result was just a little too neat so I inserted the word 'almost' into a critical sentence. As a result the situation with Ichigo became a reoccurring theme throughout the rest of the text. _

**Revelations:**

_How was I to know Kei was involved? I just thought that news like this needed to be shared. Minoru._

_Sometimes I think he gossips worse than an old woman. Konoha._

When Kei and Mizuho got married the first time Kei had been careful to keep his aunt and uncle at arms length. He did this more so out of need to help Mizuho protect her secret rather than just keeping her selfishly to himself. The second time they got married Kei hadn't felt the need for such extreme measures as both were now seasoned veterans when it came to keeping certain facts to themselves. So having dinner with his aunt and uncle was more common place. The third time around was becoming something of a juggling act. Kei wanted his wife to feel comfortable so he went to extremes to reassure her any way he could. At the same time though he was worried that as her memories returned she might accidentally blurt out something that would giveaway her otherworldly origins. While he was busy trying to help his wife keep her secrets from others he forgot that there might be a few secrets he needed to keep from her.

"One of the great things about being an OBGYN in a small town like this is the fact that you always are in the loop for the really juicy gossip," smiled Kei's uncle contentedly.

"Now dear, lets not go starting rumors," said Konoha.

"No rumors here, just the definitive facts and nothing more," he replied.

"Well I guess I have to ask, what is it that you know that the rest of us don't?" asked Kei.

"Now you know that I can't really go into specifics because of doctor patient privilege, but let's just say that I think there is going to be a wedding around these parts in the near future," his uncle replied.

"Who is it that is getting married?" asked Mizuho.

"Well I don't know who the groom is going to be but the bride to be was one of your students Ms Kazami. It's none other than Ms Morino herself!"

"Ichigo, oh my who would ever of thought," she giggled, "as straight laced as she is. So Kei, who do you think the groom is going to be?"

"I… I really have no idea," stammered Kei. Of course, the color draining out of his face told his stunned wife all she needed to know.

**Later that evening:**

_Hypocritical is all I have to say, I sat there and endured silently while she was with him but as soon as she found out about Ichigo I'm suddenly the bad guy. Kei._

"Well now aren't you something special? You get to live every pervert's dream. You got to bang your older teacher while you were still in school then turn around and enjoy a little Lolita action now that you're one yourself. You disgust me! Get out! Get the hell out right now!"

"That's not true Mizuho and you know it!"

"So how long has this been going on? Was it before I got back, did you two fall in love while I was away? It would be easier to accept if that was so. But why didn't you tell me? Why did you continue to skulk around even after we reconciled?"

"It was only the one time," Kei tried to defend himself, "while you and Matagu were still together, before you got your memories back." No sooner than the words had left his lips he knew he had just done the verbal equivalent of throwing water on a grease fire.

"So was that why you did it!" accused Mizuho, "To get even with me for screwing your friend, do you hate me for not being able to love you back because I couldn't remember? That's it isn't it? Do you feel the need to punish me for something I had no control over? If so then lets get this over with once and for all. Fuck me Kei! It's your once in a lifetime chance to treat me like the slut I am. Just fuck me! Show me how a real man deals with his whore. Fuck me now!

Kei heard the anger in her voice and with it his own anger began to boil over. Who was she to talk of fidelity! She who had sought comfort in the arms of his best friend while he sat and watched in silence. He was very close to losing himself in his rage and taking her up on her offer when suddenly he remembered the happiness he felt the day Mizuho's memories returned.

With that memory his rage turned to sorrow and he gave himself over to it. He looked at his wife as she stood in the corner with her back to him. He went over to her and hugged her from behind, Mizuho broke his hold and turning around slapped him with all of her might. Kei just stood there shocked with tears streaming down his face. For some reason the sight of her husband crying infuriated her even more so she lashed out again with her other hand. Still Kei just stood there unmoving.

Mizuho was still gathering her strength for another outburst when she suddenly noticed the ring on her left hand. As she stood there staring at her diamond remembering her feelings the day her memories returned Kei's knees slowly buckled underneath him and he sank to the floor. This unexpected reaction from Kei caught her totally off guard. She was prepared for his denials or for him to try to justify his actions, even for his counter accusations but not for him to just fold up like a paper doll. Ever since her return Kei had been strong and unyielding in the face of adversity, so she had been prepared for him to do anything, anything but this.

"Oh no you don't!" she screamed at him, "If you stagnate yourself I swear I will crawl inside your head and we will slug it out in there!"

"Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!" Kei said crying, "please just stop."

"It was hard," he said through his tears, "watching you and him. Knowing what I knew, about you, about us. Knowing I couldn't say anything for fear of losing you to the darkness once more. I had all but given up. I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life watching you in the arms of another man. Ichigo, she knew somehow, she could feel my pain. She was there for me that's all. She was just there for me when I thought I couldn't go on anymore. She gave me the strength to hang in there a little longer. Please don't hate her or me or even yourself. We all have been caught up in this mess and are just doing what we have to do in order to cope. I don't hate you because you slept with my best friend, if anything I feel sad for him because I know exactly what it is he lost. I'm just happy that you are finally you again but still we have this thing with your nightmares and now I have this problem with Ichigo and I don't know what to do. It's a lot of weight to carry Mizuho; I just don't know how much longer I can keep going on my own."

The patented 'should have kept your pecker in your pants' response died on her lips as for an instant Mizuho felt a little of what Kei must have been going through. The pain, the betrayal, the seeming hopelessness of her husbands position. Yet still he had remained steadfast like a rock. With that realization, her anger evaporated and she could see their situation coldly and objectively. This latest blow could well be more than he could handle. She knew deep inside that it was time for her to step up and shoulder her share of the burden, before she lost HIM to the darkness.

"I'm sorry Kei," she began softly, "I really have no right to get mad at you. I shouldn't have expected you to put your life on hold while the rest of the world moved on. I felt lost and betrayed just now, I can only imagine how you must have felt for all that time I was with Matagu. It would be better in a way if you did harbor some resentment. At least then we could fight it out and ease the pain. You have been there for me every step of the way, even when I tried to send you away. Whatever comes from now on I will stand with you and together we will stand with Ichigo, no matter what." With that she went to her husband and held him as he cried softly into her blouse.

"_Even the strongest rock will eventually yield to the relentless pounding of the sea,"_ she thought silently to herself.

**At Ichigo's apartment**:

_Up until that moment I was absolutely terrified, who would look after you if my disease returned? I could see in her eyes she meant what she said. I knew then that it would be all right somehow and I would never again be alone. __Letters to My Son:__ by Ichigo Morino._

"Who's there?" came the stoic voice of Ichigo from the door speaker.

"Ichigo, it's me Ms Kazami. Can we talk?"

"I guess so, come on up." Ichigo said as the door buzzer sounded.

When Mizuho entered Ichigo's apartment she was shocked by what she saw. The whole place was barely any larger than the bedroom she shared with Kei. It should have seemed cramped but it wasn't. The reason for this being that there was hardly any furniture. One small bed, a desk and reading lamp with a single chair, a small TV and video recorder laying on the floor in the corner of the room comprised the sum total of all Ichigo had in the world. It was a Spartan existence at best, little better than a prison. The real difference being where prisoners are locked in, she was locked out.

For most a home is where one goes to escape from the pressures of the world. For Ichigo, forced to live out her life by watching through the eyes of her young friends as they grew and matured eventually leaving her behind, home was the place she least wanted to be. Rather she preferred to be among the throngs of people as they lived and worked moving forward with their lives. It was only when the natural flow of humanity waned with the coming of darkness and the shops and stores closed their doors for the evening that she reluctantly went home to wait patiently for the next sunrise. Mizuho's impression of this was made even stronger as she saw Ichigo standing on the verandah looking towards the mountains, much as a caged bird might look longingly towards the distant sky, before coming inside and sitting down on the bed.

Ichigo interrupted her reverie as she said, "I can probably guess, but why are you here?"

"I'm just protecting my turf," responded Mizuho, "I need to know what you intend to do."

"So I guess you know about Kei and me."

Mizuho nods, "Yes I do. What I don't understand is how you could let something like this happen. I know you understand about the birds and the bees. I'm the one who taught you."

"It's not like I'm all that experienced with relationships you know, its one thing to watch other people, quite another to be in one yourself. Kei was my first after all, and he didn't even notice."

"He was my first too, and come to think of it he didn't notice then either." Mizuho said wistfully. "Anyway now that we're here what do we do?"

"Well you needn't worry about Kei; I don't intend to do anything. I'm quite content to leave things as they are. There is no reason to tell him if you don't want to. In fact, I would just as soon keep it secret. I'm sure he is pretty much at his limit."

"You can't leave things as they are; there is a baby on the way so our lives are going to change no matter what. Don't you understand that!"

"No there isn't."

"What do you mean, you didn't…"

"No, at least not yet. I guess the stress of finding out that I was soon to become an unwed mother caused me to stagnate. You can go for days and days without food in that condition. Unfortunately, the fetus couldn't. It almost spontaneously aborted. I didn't know anything about it until I woke a week later. By then the doctors had already cleaned up the mess. I should be grateful, I suppose, my parents call me every night to check on how I'm doing. If they hadn't gotten worried about me, I could have bled to death lying on the floor. Anyway, the Doctors are encouraging me to terminate for my own good."

"How do you feel about that anyway?"

"I'm confused; I was so envious of my younger sister when she had her baby. Then scared when I discovered I was pregnant. Now they are telling me I can't keep it. I just don't know what to think anymore."

Mizuho just smiled at her as she sat down next to Ichigo and hugged her to her breast. "Kei already knows, and we both have decided you won't have to face this on your own. Kei and I will be here for you, no matter what you decide to do."

"I think… I think I want to keep it but I don't know if I should," said Ichigo meekly.

"You know what I think? Mizuho said as she gazed into the other woman's eyes, "I think that's a wonderful idea."

The two women realizing that they were compatriots and not rivals embraced and then started to cry. Through her tears Mizuho said to Ichigo, "I just don't understand why Kei and I being together is always the cause of someone else's unhappiness."

Ichigo answered her back unexpectedly, "My making a habit of living my life vicariously through others has led me to one certain conclusion: Falling in love isn't very pretty. There is always someone somewhere who is going to get hurt. I knew this was coming even before I got started. Still I wouldn't change a thing. He loves you you know, and that, I have also discovered, is a very precious thing."


	6. Chapter 6

**Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 6**

**On Stellar cartography:**

_I assumed that her nightmares were being caused for the same reason mine had been. I knew that if I could only get to the root cause then the floodgates would open up. When she started talking about those Long Haul ships I felt a chill run up my spine. Somehow I just knew this was the connection between her, Ichigo and me._

"Kei," began Mizuho in that oh-so-sweet voice that meant she wanted something, "since it's Sunday would you mind helping me check on Marie?"

Things had been a little awkward around the house since Mizuho had discovered Ichigo was pregnant. She had said she had forgiven him and even seemed to be embracing the idea of Ichigo having his baby. Still history had shown that Mizuho could be incredibly jealous if she thought another woman was making a play for Kei. Of course Ichigo wasn't really interested in Kei; she was only interested in the welfare of her unborn child. Mizuho and Kei had talked about it; to him it seemed that from Ichigo's point of view she was moving forward. Forward to a point in her life she had once thought was forever barred. Perhaps it was because that Mizuho herself had also suffered a standstill that she now understood how important this was to her. Still it was hard to relax when your wife is an alien with the power to send your cheating ass to another dimension.

Kei sighed to himself, he had been hoping for a little quite time with his wife so he could get a handle on how she really felt. "No, not at all. Where is he by the way?"

"In the lake where it always is."

"Huh, what's this then?" he said, pointing to the little yellow figure in the floating inner tube who had become a regular feature in the house since her memories returned.

"Oh no not that Marie, he is just an interface with THE Marie, my space ship. The actual artificial intelligence or AI is part of the ship itself. This little fellow is just the link between the ship and me. I need your help to do some housekeeping. Although the ship is capable of looking after itself for extended periods of time I still need to check up on it every so often to insure that everything is still working properly and that the navigational systems are still functioning."

"Why would you even care? As far as the Galaxy Federation is concerned you still have amnesia."

"That may be so but if they left Marie here by mistake then that gives us an advantage they don't know about. It would be foolish to squander it because I was too lazy to capitalize on it. Please, can you give me a hand? The job goes a lot quicker with two people."

"I don't see why not, I was looking forward to spending the day alone with you anyway. Your ship is as good a place as any."

"Good, then I'll pack us a lunch and we can get to it. Assuming we get done early enough we might be able to go out to dinner. My treat."

"You got yourself a deal." Kei said happily.

When they arrived, Kei could see that Mizuho was uneasy about being back onboard her own ship. Kei soon realized that she probably wanted him by her side more for moral support than any real assistance he could offer.

Curious as to her discomfort Kei asked her, "Why are you afraid of being on your own ship? Wouldn't Marie tell you if something was amiss?"

"I don't really understand why I'm so afraid myself," Mizuho said as they ventured down the corridor, "the Galaxy Federation wouldn't come for me again would they? Not after what happened the last time."

Kei replied, "But why did they come the first time? What makes you so special that they would care if you stayed or left? I can't believe that they would consider you much of a threat being stranded here and all."

"Well I guess that they might want the ship back but it isn't like there is any shortage of those. Marie could dislodge it into Parallel Space if need be."

"That begs another question," Kei responded, "Why did they leave Marie here? It seems awfully dangerous to me to just leave artifacts of an alien culture just laying about for somebody to find."

Mizuho pondered his question for a few seconds before she answered back, "I suspect that it might have something to do with the AI, they are linked to the emotional waves of the captain. Normally when command is handed over to a new captain the former captain first performs a simple ceremony where he severs his emotional ties with the AI, then the new captain can establish his. This ensures that the AI is never without a connection to an organic host. In my case, since I was forced home, that ceremony never took place and I'm sure you've noticed Marie can become quite stubborn when he wants too. I suspect they probably just took me and left the Marie here intending to send a salvage crew back for him at a later date. Besides, the ship is a lot safer on the bottom of the lake than you might think; we just don't pick our landing spots at random you know. The geographic survey we made of the area showed that this lake has been here for thousands of years. The ship is not likely to be discovered by accident any time soon and if people were actively looking for it the AI would be aware of it and it would simply reposition the ship to a safer location."

Mizuho sighed and then involuntarily shuddered to herself as she looked about.

"What is the matter?" asked Kei.

"I was just thinking, it has been over two years since I last stood here and everything is still the same. It's almost as if everything has been frozen in time just waiting for my return, so different from the world outside that just passed me by while I was asleep. It's almost as if the ship itself wants to standstill with me. It's tempting in a way. If I stay here then it wouldn't matter if I went to sleep for two years or two hundred because everything would still be just the same when I woke again."

"Mizuho stop it. You're starting to scare me talking like that." Kei said firmly.

She turned to her husband and wrapped her arms around him hugging him tight. "I just don't want to stop again Kei, I don't want to close my eyes one night only to wake years later and find you gone. I want to live with you and grow old together, I want to see Ichigo have her baby and watch him grow, I want… I want so much." With that she started crying softly on his shoulder. Kei could only stand there and hold his wife as her tears soaked his shirt.

Just as suddenly as she started she stopped, Mizuho looked at him and wiping the tears from her eyes said, "Well enough of the unloading of the personal baggage. Let's get to work, this shouldn't take too long. OK then, first things first, I need you to take off your clothes and put on this jump suit."

"Can I ask why?"

"It prevents cross contamination. Once you put this on and Marie stores your information the next time you're here the teleporter will store your clothes in the buffer and replace them with this suit. The suit itself will become attuned to your mental waves and respond to changes in the environment."

"You mean I can make it open in the front and show off my masculine chest?" Kei joked.

"You can if you want," she replied, "but there are practical uses too, like accessing the tool box or simply going to the bathroom."

"I see your point but how does a simple piece of cloth know what I want it to do?"

"It doesn't really, there is an antenna array woven into the collar that acts as an amplifier for your mental commands. The suit is made from a fabric that is designed to be easily configurable using teleporter style technology. It's actually Marie who is doing the reconfiguring of the suit, this really comes in handy during the holiday season when you over indulge, trust me."

Kei wisely stayed silent after that last remark, he was learning after all.

"Okay the bathroom thing I get, but the tool box?"

"That is what I like to call it; it's a storage location on the ship where all the special tools and spare parts can be found."

"And I need the suit to go in there?"

"No, you don't go there to get your tools. You need the suit to bring the tools to you."

"I'm confused."

"Here let me demonstrate."

With that Mizuho looked at one of the alcoves in the wall. "Remember when you first came on the ship and accidentally teleported yourself to the bridge?" she said as she reached towards the center of the depression causing a bright light bar to appear in the center. "These are all the equivalent of computer access terminals and they are located throughout the ship. But GF technology allows them to do so much more." Touching the light in the center a series of holographic displays appeared. Looking closely at the displays she expanded one until it filled the entire opening. Reaching into the depression Kei saw Mizuho's hand disappear into the display until it hit the bracelet she wore on her wrist. When she extracted her hand she now held an old Japanese wakizashi.

"Marie found this laying on the bottom of the lake when I first landed. It was just sitting on the work bench until I reached in and grabbed it just now."

"How did you do that?" Kei asked in wonderment.

"There is a room, just like a mechanics workroom you might find in an auto shop, elsewhere on this ship. By using a combination of the teleporter technology and the position linking mechanics of the interspatial bridge I'm able to reach into that workroom from any location on the ship and retrieve any tool or part I need without having to drop what I'm doing and go get it myself. The bracelet acts as a limiter and keeps me from reaching in too far. By looking at the display board I am able to see where the tool I'm looking for is relative to where my hand is. This way I can do my repair work without having to lug a heavy tool belt all over the ship."

"I guess there is a reason that you are showing me this?"

"You're right, when we were here last time I noticed that the air was getting a little stale so I'm going to climb up into the air handlers and swap out the scrubbers," she said pointing up to an overhead air intake grate. "I need you to hand me up the tools I need."

"So I just reach in here," Kei asked pointing at the display, "and retrieve the tool you need?"

"That's right just line your hand up with the symbol and reach in. You can, if you want too, actually see the bench." she said as the display changed to a real-time view of what a fish might see from the inside of an aquarium, "But since we are taking the visual information of an entire room and compressing it into a space of less than a meter the resulting view is enough to make you sick."

Kei looked at the distorted scene in fascination for a few minutes before suddenly becoming queasy.

"I get your point," he said at last.

"Here," said Mizuho handing him the old sword and pointing to the kanji for workbench, "place this on the bench."

Kei took the old sword from her and hesitantly stuck his hand through the symbol. As soon as his hand touched the symbol on the screen the display changed to show him the view of the workbench but instead of visually compressing the image the view was only of that area immediately adjacent to his hand. From Kei's perspective it felt as if he was reaching through a window to place the sword on a table that was just on the other side. He carefully placed the antique weapon on the bench before quickly removing his hand from the display.

Mizuho smiled at him warmly, "Now put your hand into the display labeled screwdriver and hand it to me." Once again he reached into the display slowly, as soon as his hand touched the symbol the display changed and he could see and feel the handle of the screwdriver in his palm. Grasping the tool firmly he extracted the tool from the display and handed it to his wife.

"I know it can be a little disconcerting at first but once you get used to it you will wonder how you ever lived without it." Mizuho told him.

Using the screwdriver he just gave her Mizuho removed the screws holding the access grate to the air handlers in place and climbed up into it, disappearing down the ventilation shaft. Shortly thereafter he could hear the sounds of his wife busying herself as she tore into the ships air system.

"That's odd," Kei heard Mizuho say to herself.

"What's odd?"

"The scrubbers have all expired," she answered.

"Well you know this thing has been sitting down here for a few years now." Kei said hoping he sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

"That's true, but we haven't spent that many hours onboard since I first came here. The scrubbers shouldn't be anywhere close to being this used up. It's possible Marie has a CO2 leak somewhere, or they might have just been overlooked when Marie got his last checkup."

"So are you saying we might not be able to breathe if we stay here?"

"No, I'll just swap out the scrubbers as planned and we'll be okay. I'll set the system to run air quality checks every few days. If the air seems to be getting worse I might need to start looking for where that additional CO2 source might be."

Most of the rest of the day was a blur but Mizuho had spoken the truth; the job did go a lot faster with two. With her running the checks and Kei lending a hand she was able to get the entire ship checked out in just a couple of hours. The most tedious job turned out to be the checks on the navigational system, which Mizuho had to do all by herself since Kei couldn't understand any of the symbols. (For reasons of security that particular display could not be changed to read in kanji.)

As time passed Kei began to notice that every so often Mizuho would start to get anxious, in order to take her mind off of what was bothering her he decided to ask her a question that had been puzzling him ever since Mr. Yamata taught his lesson on general relativity.

"So how is it that the GF has ships that can travel faster than light and our scientists say that Faster Than Light travel is impossible?" Kei asked.

"We don't," Mizuho replied, "you're scientists are right. You can't travel faster than light, but it is possible to work around that restriction."

"Can you explain how that works so that a poor dumb Earthling can understand?"

"Well I can't tell you exactly how it's done because I don't know myself but I can explain the concept if you're okay with that."

"Okay shoot."

"Imagine the two rails of a train track. Only this train runs in a loop and only makes right hand turns."

"Okay I'm with you so far."

"All right then now if you were to measure the length of each rail you will discover that the right hand rail is considerably shorter than the left one."

"Huh?"

"Think about it, you have a small circle nestled inside of a larger circle."

"Okay now I get you."

"If you think about it the wheels on the left-hand side of the train are really traveling faster than the ones on the right-hand side. That's how both halves of the train manage to arrive at the station at the same time."

"OK I'm with you so far."

"Well then the opposite is true as well. Take two people walking side by side down the tracks at exactly the same speed. The man walking on the right will slowly move ahead of his friend on the left because he is walking the shorter distance and of course he will get to his destination sooner."

"Okay I'm with you so far but how is this related to space travel?"

"The reason that the man on the right got to his destination sooner was not because he walked faster but because he traveled a shorter distance. Parallel Space is like traveling along that inside rail. Only now a movement of a few inches along that inside rail equates to a distance of several miles along the outside rail.

"When a ship dislodges into Parallel Space it is as if that man on the outside rail simply stepped over to the inside rail before starting on his journey. We just travel along that shorter path until we get to where we need to go then simply step back over to the other side."

"What exactly is Parallel space anyway?"

"Well you've been there twice, no make that three times now. Weren't you paying attention?"

Kei had to think about it for a few seconds and then smiled to himself as he realized exactly where his spouse was referring too.

"Four times now if you count Maho 'helping me' get my memory back." he corrected, "As I recall I was running for my life each time so I wasn't taking notes."

"Whatever," she smiled at him, "anyway that's the region of Parallel Space that is immediately adjacent to our own."

"I think I get it," Kei said, "I don't recall seeing any stars or a sun for that matter so how do you navigate in Parallel Space anyway?"

"Well" Mizuho began, "first you plot your course using coordinates from your Normal Space charts using the suns the moons and the planets that you can see from here, corrected for their position in real-time of course. Then you cross reference those points to their equivalent relay locations found in Parallel Space, punch in your start and stopping points and there you go."

"So, I'm guessing that means you have some way of mapping points in both dimensions?"

"No, not really, Parallel Space is all distorted due to the influence of the singularity, that thing that almost swallowed us the first time we met. While it's easy enough to dislodge yourself from anywhere in space to Parallel Space there is no way to know where, or for that matter when, you will reappear in Normal Space. You need precise coordinates from normal or flat space, if you will, overlaid with the relay coordinates in Parallel Space to make the move work. Anything less and you can wind up lost in the vastness between the stars forever."

"So how did we wind up in Minuro's tub? Shouldn't I have been lost as soon as I was teleported there?"

"No, that was different. You've heard me use the term Proportional Parallel Motion? That was what Marie used to transport us back to our origin. It's a non-linear movement but it still can be plotted. It's akin to walking a short distance down a path then turning around and walking back the way you came. It doesn't matter how many twists and turns there are along the path. As long as you continue to travel backwards along the exact same route you used originally you will always be guaranteed of finding your way back to your starting point. The problem is when you try to move between two different points in Flat Space using pathways found in Parallel Space. Like say walking a short distance down one path then crossing over to another that you hope will intersect a third that exits at your intended destination. They all have equivalent coordinates in Parallel Space but these points constantly move in a non linear fashion relative to their flat space counterparts and to each other."

"So what you are saying is that you can only use Parallel Space to travel between destinations where you have these relays established. If so, then how do you discover new planets and the like?"

"You're absolutely right. The first trip to any new destination is always made the long ways 'round, (on the outside rail of our hypothetical train track.) Trips that can span a hundred years or more in great ships we use to map the stars. Astral Cartography Ships is the official name, however we just call them Long Haul ships due to the fact that anybody who crews one is in for the long haul. Their purpose, obviously, is scientific exploration and the discovery of new worlds. When they discover a planet like the Earth, one where the Galaxy Federation might want to travel too, the ship will place a relay, which is sort of a navigational buoy, in orbit around a nearby moon or asteroid close to the planet in question with a counterpart that is deployed in Parallel Space. Then the new relay is cataloged with its Normal Space coordinates and two way travel becomes possible. Depending on the level of observation, a cloaked satellite system might be put in place for more detailed information gathering."

"I see," said Kei as he pondered what she told him, "So, these long haul ships, how are they crewed, how do you find people willing to set out on a voyage that they won't live to see the end of?"

"I don't know, I never thought about it before," sighed Mizuho, "anyway class is dismissed for today. I'm all done here. Just one more stop by the Med. Lab to run the diagnostics then we can go home."

With that the two transport to the Med. Lab. When they get there Mizuho promptly goes to work running the computer diagnostics from the workstation. Kei, having no where else to sit, decides to crash in one of the diagnostic chairs. Relaxed Kei started to drift off into a light sleep. He was just about to close his eyes when he heard his wife cry out his name.

"Kei!" he heard her scream.

When Kei looked at her he could see his wife staring at him, her eyes wide in horror.

"Mizuho, what's wrong!" he asked in alarm.

"I saw you... I saw you." Mizuho stammered.

"What... what did you see!"

"You were in the chair and you were telling me you loved me and I was… I was. Oh, Kei I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

Kei went over to his distraught wife who was kneeling on the floor and becoming increasingly more hysterical as she apologized to him over and over again. Afraid that the stress of being on the ship any longer could cause Mizuho to go into a standstill he shouted, "Marie take us back home!"

Interestingly enough, even though the AI is only supposed to respond to Mizuho's orders, the teleporter whisked them back to their apartment. Once there Kei poured his wife a glass of sake and made her drink it down. Calmed somewhat she started to try to tell him what she saw but Kei just put his finger to her lips.

"Be still," he said, "whatever it is it can wait, it can wait."

Unfortunately for the two of them Kei was wrong, the seal on Mizuho's mind reasserted itself, burying the repressed memory back deep in her subconscious.


	7. Chapter 7

**Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 7**

**You're on your own now:**

_In all their scheming the only thing they didn't account for was Love. In the end that was their undoing. Maho._

It had been almost four months since Mizuho had returned. Hatsuho and Maho had been taking their time repairing the damaged satellite system so they could monitor her recovery. However, they realized that they had pushed it as far as they could go and knew it was time for them to hand Mizuho's care off to her husband. If they were to spend any more time planet side then the Galaxy Federation would suspect something was up. Sadly, try as they might they were never able to ascertain the other surveyor's identity. Furthermore, their monitoring of Mizuho had convinced her mother that it was just a matter of time until she eventually succumbed to another major standstill. Against that possibility, Hatsuho decided to go out on a limb and entrust Kei with a piece of the Galaxy Federation's forbidden technology. As the time to leave came the family decided to have a picnic down by the lake. Hatsuho needed to have a one on one conversation with Kei and sent Mizuho back to the apartment for some cold drinks. Once she was out of earshot:

"Well we have to go now Kei." Hatsuho said.

"So soon?" Kei said in dismay.

"Yes, we were here to repair the damaged satellite system. Now that is done we have to leave."

"But weren't you the ones who hacked into it in the first place?"

"Yes, but the Galaxy Federation doesn't know that, they think that Mizuho did it when she came back to be with you. I didn't see any need to disabuse them of that notion."

"I hope everything you did was on the up & up. You know that they are going to scrutinize your work."

"Don't worry everything is 100% to code." Hatsuho replied confidently.

"_With the exception of one 13-sec long back door command."_ Maho thought to herself.

"So I guess we won't be seeing you for awhile." Kei said, sad to see them go.

"Not for sometime I'm afraid; unfortunately we didn't discover the identity of the other observer, so watch your back.

"One more thing," Hatsuho continued, "Mizuho's dreams, I know they are getting worse, eventually they will become so bad that they will frighten her into another standstill. I think that the Galaxy Federation is just biding their time until that day comes. So I am going to break a major rule and leave you with these."

With that Hatsuho reached into the picnic basket and retrieved two small T shaped devices with fine wires protruding upwards from the end of each leg.

"What are these?" Kei asked as he studied the strange devices.

"It's Maho's idea really, they're called mental radios."

"These are really just a variation of a device the Galaxy Federation uses called Mental Communicators," Maho explained. "Because of their design in order to use a standard MentComm you have to interface with an embedded AI somewhere. I redesigned these two so that they will only talk to each other. Taking the AI and anybody who might be listening out of the loop. However, their range is very limited."

"Okay," said Kei nodding his head in understanding, "how do I use them?"

"They work like this," Hatsuho demonstrated. "Place the device on the subject's forehead with the long end between the eyebrows. Press the button in the center and these probes will be driven into the brain, creating a hardwire interface with the device, the devices themselves are connected electronically. Do that to Mizuho first and then to yourself and you will be able to talk to each other like you could on a cell phone , with the added benefit of being able to see what is going on inside the other person's mind."

"Exactly," Maho agreed, "However, remember my warning about the range. Since we don't have an AI to act as a relay the range is limited to a few meters at best. The closer you are together the better they will work another thing to keep in mind, they will only work once and the power cell will only last for a few minutes."

"I understand." Kei said, hoping that he really did.

"One last thing," Hatsuho cautioned, "Once activated you will be trapped in Mizuho's mind until the power cell runs down. Whatever nightmare she is experiencing, you will experience it too. If you are not brave enough or strong enough you could wind up putting yourself into a Standstill instead of bringing her out of one."

"Anymore good news before you leave?" said Kei sarcastically.

"I'm afraid so," replied Hatsuho. "When we were helping Koishi we discovered anomalies in the Med. Lab database. We discovered that several scans had been made of you and your classmates."

"There were?"

"Yes, they were primarily interested in you and another girl, Ichigo I think was her name. There were multiple scans of you two. Only one or two of everybody else."

"While I'm not too hot on the idea of somebody poking around on my body without me knowing it, still wouldn't that be part of an observer's job to gather data like that?"

"Not to that level, most of what an observer would want to know can be gathered remotely. To collect a specimen and put it in the chair is only necessary when you are doing some kind of detailed analysis. Gathering information to that level doesn't fall within the surveyor's mandate. The scary thing is that this is all highly protected equipment. It's all keyed to Mizuho's biometrics so only her or somebody with administrator privileges like Maho or myself, can access the system. Even more frightening though is the system itself; its interlocks have been tampered with and those are features that even I can't access. It's very possible that Koishi's problem was deliberately induced using the system."

"Are you saying somebody used your system to hurt Koishi?"

"Not somebody, Mizuho!"

"Why would she do such a thing?"

"Kei, I want you to understand that I find it very difficult to speak this way of my own daughter but she saw Koishi as a rival. She might have tampered with her ovaries as a fail-safe against Koishi getting herself knocked up in order to trap you."

"I see."

"You must promise me that you will never reveal what I have just told you to Mizuho, if you do it will push her over the edge."

"Kei," Maho started to say, "I know you love my sister, and I know she loves you as well. If there is anybody who can bring her back it is you. Please don't let them hurt my sister anymore; I don't think I could stand it if she were to stop again. Please, she needs you Kei," she cried, "I don't think I could take it, growing old and not having my big sister to share it with."

**On the bridge of Hatsuho's ship:**

_If I had known he was still alive at the time then I would have realized what was transpiring much sooner. Maybe then things wouldn't have turned out the way they did. Hatsuho._

The rest of the outing was just small talk with the three women laughing and just enjoying each other's company. Some of the humor Kei could understand, the story about the couple in the anti-gravity chamber he had found particularly amusing, but most of the humor made absolutely no sense, "I guess you just had to have been there." He thought to himself. Eventually the day came to a close and Hatsuho and Maho had returned to their ship in order to prepare it for departure.

"I wish we could stay a little longer," said Maho to her mother.

"So do I dear, but the satellite system is repaired and operational if we don't take our leave of this planet now we might come under suspicion. If that happens then we might not ever be able to return."

"Actually," a voice said from behind, "you two have been under suspicion from the start. That was why you were picked for the repair. Who better to fix the programming than the ones who hacked into the system to start with?"

As the two women turn to face the owner of the voice, Hatsuho recognized him and immediately rushed towards him, her intention obvious.

"You bastard!" was all she could manage to say before being forcefully teleported to a makeshift holding cell on her own ship.

**In the School Gym:**

_I never knew we were in love until way too late. Masami Yamada._

In the Gym is heard the steady thumping of a punching bag being pounded mercilessly. Unlike Kei, however, the person pounding on it did not know the proper technique for using the device. This only added to the frustration of the hunched over figure of the teacher doing the thumping and even the uninitiated could tell the user was on the verge of losing himself to his own rage.

Masami Yamada, science class teacher, former winner of the Birdman competition and most recently Koishi's significant other was having a bad day. In fact, he was having a very bad day. Consumed by his passion for man powered flight he had never been popular with the opposite sex. Koishi's behind the scene commitment to his cause had been like a pillar of strength. She helped give direction to his confused existence, the kind of steady support that gave him the confidence to reach ever higher in the pursuit of his dreams. A love had blossomed between the two, one that had developed so slowly that neither was aware of it until they were in too deep to pull back. Never one to flinch in the face of adversity he always faced his problems head on but now he was faced with one he couldn't overcome. He knew he loved Koishi and that she returned that love but somehow that wasn't enough. He wanted a family, not now of course but someday soon. Like all men, he was becoming aware that the time he had on this Earth was limited and he wanted his dreams to live on in his children. Children he knew Koishi couldn't bear.

"Do you believe in miracles?" came the voice of Kei from behind.

"No I don't," he replied, "I believe in what I can do with my own two hands."

"And now that it's out of your hands you believe that there is no hope for the future." Kei finished for him.

"That's about the size of it. I don't want to live in a future I can't help shape. I still love her you know, but I can't get past the fact that I might never have an heir. I won't lie to her, but I just can't find an answer to this problem!" He shouted as he slugged the bag again. "Dammit it's just not fair!"

"I find that kind of sad," said Kei, "now me, I believe in miracles, I thought I had lost Mizuho forever, when she came back it sure as hell wasn't because of anything I did. We thought her memories were all lost. When they finally returned it wasn't because of me. I think that there will always be things that are beyond our ability to control."

"So what are you saying? That I should just stand idly by and except our fate!"

"No, of course not. It's just that you need to realize that there are some events over which we have no control."

"What are you getting at?"

"Now I'm not saying that because fate has decided to dump on you that you have to take it lying down but it doesn't do you any good to tilt at windmills either. Get up, assess the situation and start fixing those things you can and not worry about those things you can't. You're in a tizzy right now about something beyond your control while things that you can fix still need tending too. Nobody knows what the future will bring, and time has a way of healing all wounds I'm told. I waited for two years for my wife to come home but you seem willing to give up on Koishi without giving time a chance. You've been so caught up in worrying about the future that you have lost your focus on the here and now. Stop worrying about crap that's still years away and concentrate on today. Right now, there's a plane waiting to be built and a whole lot of people willing to help you reach your goal, one person in particular. Part of what we do in this school is helping build our students' character. It's during times of adversity that a person's character counts the most. And personally I think it is way past time for you to show your students and Koishi what your character is really made of!"

**At the Birdman trials:**

_Up until this time flying had been my passion and teaching my job. Hearing the good news from Koishi and having her suggest we stay and help I suddenly felt the juxtaposition in my heart. Helping others realize their dreams, that became my new passion. Masami Yamada._

During the preliminaries the Yamata flier had been caught by a gust of wind, Mr. Yamata had tried to correct the planes motion by pulling hard on the rudder but the torque was too much and the wings snapped off plunging the plane and pilot into the water.

At the hotel later in the day: "Well that didn't go as planned," Koishi said as she looked down on her lover as he sat forlornly in the middle of the room. "What now?"

"I was thinking of checking out early and going back home."

"No way buster! We paid for four days and we're going to stay for four days!"

"What's the point?" He said dejectedly.

"What's the point!" she shouted back, "You are a teacher for crying out loud! Just look around you at all the people here just dying to learn what you already know. If word gets out that a former champion is willing to help anybody who asks, you will have line out the door. I would hope that that would be any teacher's dream since normally you have to hit them upside the head to get their attention. There are other teams out there who have never been here before and might never be here again. This isn't the first damn plane we ever built; we have the talent, the expertise and the manpower to help those other teams reach the finish line. I say we stay and help. Besides the kids would be disappointed if they went home early. Time to show them the true meaning of sportsmanship."

"_Strange,"_ he thought to himself, _"when the student suddenly becomes the teacher. I wonder how much different my life would have been had I never met her?" _He didn't want to think about it too hard though. He was fairly sure his life wouldn't have been nearly as fulfilling as it had been to date.

"Well," he chuckled, "that sounds like a plan. Want to get some dinner?"

"No, I was thinking maybe we should stay in tonight and practice."

"Practice what?"

"Making babies." she blushed.

"Please don't make jokes like that Koishi, I know it must hurt."

"I'm not joking and I'm not hurting, not anymore, I can't tell you how I know this but I have been given a second chance.

"A chance at what?" he asked.

"My 'immortality' has been restored," she smiled.

"Immortality?" he mused.

"Yes, that's what I heard it called once."

"Odd, I never thought of it like that but I guess it's true."

"I'm not ready just yet but, someday soon, I will be able to give you as many heirs as you can ever want."

"Kei was trying to tell me to have faith. Maybe there are such things as miracles after all," he said as he hugged her.

**Back on Hatsuho's Ship:**

_We had been played for fools all along; it was presumptuous on our part to think we had finally gained the upper hand. Maho._

Hatsuho had been living forlornly in the holding cell of her own ship trying to come to terms with her situation. She had been betrayed, and her confidence in her fellow man had been shattered so she just sat in the middle of the cell staring despairingly at the floor.

Maho on the other hand had been convinced she would go stir crazy if she didn't do something. Fortunately for her the pair had been teleported directly to the holding cell from the bridge without being searched. Always one for souvenirs, Maho had bought herself a Leatherman tool during one of her infrequent forays into town and had been using it the day of their picnic to open their bottled drinks. Since their capture she had been amusing herself by using it to try and loosen the fasteners around one of the panels where she knew the locking device for the access door was. She had been making a slow but steady progress.

Her mother, however, didn't seem to want to put up any fight at all. Maho knew she had to keep her motivated.

"So mother, who is that man and what does he want?" asked Maho.

"I'm not sure I want to talk about it right now dear." Her mother replied sadly.

"Awe, you know it helps too know whom you're dealing with when you locked in a battle of wits. It helps give me insight into what his next move will be."

"Very well then you asked for it. That man is your father dear."

"Dammit!" screamed Maho.

"See I knew you would be upset."

"It's not that, if I had known he was my father I wouldn't have wasted all my time trying to get this panel off!"

"How so dear?"

"Because dad lived with you for quite sometime onboard this ship, which means," she said as she pulled the panel off the wall, "he already knew to bypass this door circuit so we couldn't escape." Pointing to the obviously dead door release. "I could have saved all that time."

"Oh well," Maho said as she got up and went to the other side of the door and started working on removing another panel."

"What are you doing now dear?"

"Well the electronics might be dead, but the hydraulics are still working." she said with a determined smile.

As Maho starts to go to work, she asks, "Mom can you tell me a little about dad, about what he was like before this?"

**Hatsuho's story:**

_What can I say, he was every woman's dream and he was all mine. I just didn't realize that he was also a rat. Hatsuho._

"Your father was the crew commander on one of the Earth's primitive space exploration ships. He and his crew were placed in something the Earth people like to call 'suspended animation' in order to make the long trip from the Earth to Mars, the next closest planet." Hatsuho began.

"What's suspended animation? I've never heard of it before." asked Maho.

"Neither had anybody in the Galaxy Federation at that time. Suspended animation is a process whereby the natural functioning of the body is artificially slowed down drastically, to the point where they almost halt, hopefully without killing the subject."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Because it lessens the body's demand for food, air and water. It's the only way for them to make the long voyage with the limited amount of stores they can carry on their ships with their current technology. Your father's ship had suffered a guidance system failure and missed its intended target for a course correction. As the crew commander, the onboard computer wakened him in order to make the necessary adjustments. Your father reprogrammed the destination coordinates in the guidance system then reset the sleep timers so the rest of the crew wouldn't wake prematurely and went back to sleep himself.

"The next time he woke it was onboard the Long Haul survey ship that first mapped this world. According to the records, his ship had been in orbit around Mars for several months by the time they were found. Something had gone wrong with the suspended animation system, your father was still alive but the rest of the crew had died in their sleep. I was on that first survey team that made the jump into Earth space via parallel motion. By studying his ship's computers I was able to discern the programming and we were able to revive him. However, the loss of his crew and the fact that he knew he could never return to Earth almost took the heart right out of him. I helped care for him and quickly we fell in love, then Mizuho came along and we were very happy, then later you came too. Then one day he didn't come home, they told me he was dead, killed in some kind of accident. I should have known better, accidents don't just happen, not anymore, but I didn't have the strength to try to find out what was really going on."

"That probably explains his interest in Kei then, he can do naturally what those suspended animation machines couldn't." said Maho.

"Oh no!" cried Hatsuho in sudden realization, "That's what they've been up to! They want to see if they can reproduce Kei's sickness into other people, like Mizuho did to herself. Suspended animation without the machines! Maho we have got to get off this planet now before it's too late!"

"Why are you panicking all of a sudden?"

"We have got to get help, if we don't stop them now it won't be just Mizuho but hundreds of others who could be deliberately infected with Kei's disease!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 8**

**Into the void:**

_The stress was really starting to show by now, I knew I had to do something; I was just waiting for an opportunity. When I saw it I pounced. Kei._

Later that evening as they lay side by side Kei felt Mizuho hands start to play upon his body in prelude to more intimate activities. This was the first time since their argument that he had received such an invitation and he supposed it was Mizuho's way of saying thank you for today. Still he needed to know.

Taking her hands in his he looked her in the eyes and asked her seriously, "Can I ask you something before we get started?"

"Oh my, this sounds serious," Mizuho answered playfully, "about what?"

"It's about me and Ichigo, I'm having a hard time understanding why you aren't more upset about her being pregnant."

"Oh, is that all it is? I was never upset about her being pregnant. I was just pissed that you had been with her. Not that my actions were any different at the time. As far as her having your child is concerned I'm actually very happy about that."

"I'm confused," Kei said scratching his head.

"I'm not surprised, it's because I was raised in a different culture than you."

"Care to explain."

"It's not that hard to understand really." Mizuho began, "Where I come from not just anybody can have a baby. If the Galaxy Federation allowed people to procreate at will then we would quickly outstrip the planet's ability to supply the population with necessary resources. Women are required to use birth control by law; the mechanism is put in place automatically by the medical computer at your first check up after puberty and re-verified every check up thereafter."

"Mechanism, like a machine?"

"Not really, it's more like an alteration to the body around the ovaries, very similar to Koishi's problem."

"That doesn't really sound fair, having somebody mess around with that part of your body without asking."

"You ever hear the word circumcision?" Mizuho smiled at him.

"I get your point." Kei cringed.

"Anyway for a woman to be eligible to have a baby she would first have to enter her name into a lottery too have that mechanism removed."

"What! You mean that people who want to have a child have to leave it up to chance!"

"No, not even that. The lottery is restricted to just those women who are in their prime child bearing years. In Earth equivalent years from about 18 to 28."

"Wait! That would mean you that you are…"

"That's right Kei, in GF terms I'm almost too old to have a child," she sighed.

"Now even if you win the lottery that doesn't mean you automatically get to have a child. Changing a woman's status from infertile to fertile is an iffy process. The system was meant to be fool proof. Next you have to get tested to insure that there aren't any problems in your genetic makeup that might result in birth defects. Then a board of review looks at your life and current circumstances to see if you can successfully rear a child.

"If the applicant makes it through all that, then the woman is matched up with a donor whose genetic make up is considered most suitable based on whatever criteria is chosen to determine what the other half of the child's makeup should be. Sometimes the two people are allowed to meet and form a family unit. Sometimes it's a group home. Other times it's a single parent setup who is inseminated by artificial means. It just depends on the situation. However you look at it pregnancies are so rare that if one of your friends gets to have a baby then it's as if everybody is having a baby. That's why I'm happy for Ichigo, I know it's your child inside of her but since we all belong to the same circle of friends that makes it my baby too. And I fully intend to be there for her."

"I have a question; if as you say you can't have a kid unless you win the lotto, and even then you don't get to choose the father how was your mother able to have you and Maho?"

"Surveyor's are the exception to the rule. Although it's rare, complications sometimes result from switching the baby making machinery on and off. Since surveyors spend extended amounts of time in the field in underdeveloped areas we just don't mess with it. Unexpected pregnancies within the Surveyor Corps are few and far between anyway. I'm sure a lot of heads were turned when she popped the two of us out."

"This could get weird you, Ichigo and me."

"I was thinking," Mizuho said as her hands once again started to dance upon his body, "wouldn't it be nice if Ichigo's baby had a little brother or sister to play with?"

"Didn't you just say you were too old?"

"I didn't say that, the Galaxy Federation did!" Mizuho pouted, "Besides, what do they know anyway!"

"Well then…" Kei said turning towards his wife.

Later as they lay in each others arms basking in the afterglow:

"So, do you think my mother was right about there being another observer?" asked Mizuho as she snuggled next to her husband.

"If there isn't, then how did she find out about us getting married in the first place?" Kei asked her back.

"You've become quite adept at answering questions with questions haven't you?"

"Often times I've discovered that the answers to questions you don't know can be found in the questions whose answers you do know. You're the one who taught me that." Kei told her.

"This brings up a subject I've been avoiding talking to you about. Will you answer me honestly Kei, because I'd rather you just not say anything than lie to me."

"I'll try."

"Kei, I've noticed every so often you try to pump me for information. You suspect something, don't you?"

"Can this wait until morning? I'm awfully tired." Kei said uncomfortably.

"You know I can't sleep when something's puzzling me."

"You had another bad dream didn't you?"

"No, I was starting too but I wasn't fully asleep so I woke myself up. What is it you suspect? Please tell me! The dreams just keep getting worse and worse even when you are here to hold me I just can't shake this feeling of dread." she cried.

"Oh hell, I guess it's time to face the music," Kei said as he got up and went into the kitchen. He returned shortly with a bottle of sake and two glasses and sat down next to his wife. He poured Mizuho a glass and made her drink it down before having one himself.

"Is it really that bad?" she asked.

Kei just nodded his head. "Remember when we were locked in the storage room and you were telling me all about the Galaxy Federation and I suspected that the Galaxy Federation was going to come in and take over?"

"Yes."

"Well I'm still of the same opinion."

"What are you saying?" Mizuho said defensively," That I came here with the intention of doing something underhanded to the people of Earth? That I'm really some kind of invading monster!"

"No, no not at all," Kei said soothingly, "But I do think you are just an innocent pawn in a much larger game. A game with a sinister purpose."

"Oh! So now I'm stupid and can't tell when I'm being manipulated!"

"If you really want to hear what I have to say then be quite and listen!" remarked Kei not unkindly, "Otherwise let's go back to bed."

"I'm sorry Kei; I get upset when you talk as if the Surveyors don't have the best interest of the planets they watch over at heart. Please tell me what you think, and I'll try to give your idea a fair hearing."

"Really? All right then, that marvelous Galaxy Federation technology that you used to pull me out of that awful standstill could be used by evil people towards wicked ends." Kei began, "Just think of it, instead of a beautiful woman trying to convince me to end my standstill so I can hold her in the real world, as you did for me, that image could have been replaced with some kind of hideous monster scaring me deeper into the darkness. One so fearsome I might never wake up. It's all doable with just the technology onboard your ship right now. It really all just depends on the person pulling the strings."

"That's impossible," Mizuho told him, "there are strict rules against using these things in such a fashion. Besides the system is protected from that kind of misuse with powerful interlocks!"

"Yes, but the rules change when you are involved in scientific exploration. Scientists are often given leeway to explore in areas often forbidden. Another thing, why did you get into so much trouble when you used the system to save me? It's the same reasoning in reverse. Sometimes you have to break the rules to help others in distress. In most civilized societies in those circumstances your transgressions are overlooked when they find that your actions were for humanitarian reasons. In your heart I think you know this is true, your nightmares are your mind's way of trying to alert you to the danger."

"So let me get this straight," Mizuho said trying hard to remain objective, "you think that somebody acting on the behalf of the Galaxy Federation is doing something sinister behind the scenes in the name of some greater good?"

"It sounds contradictory I know, but yes, I do."

"But then there has to be a reason to justify their actions. What do you think it is?"

"I think it might have to do with those Long Haul ships," Kei said as he looked her in the eye, "the enormous cost of building one has got to be prohibitive. Just think of all the things that go into building something to that scale. It would have to be a self-supporting environment with multiple redundant systems capable of running flawlessly for hundreds of years. It has got to be an engineering nightmare."

"All that you say is true, but there isn't any other way," she acknowledged.

"But what if there were. What if you could discover the secret of my disorder and induce it into others, like you did to yourself. The math changes then. The ship could be built much more simply, no need for a self-supporting environment. Just put the crew into a standstill and their metabolism drops to nearly zero, shove an IV in their arms, place the whole thing into a capsule with just what little food and water they would need to make the trip and presto, instant low cost exploration. By comparison these ships would only be a fraction of the size of that thing you got parked in the lake."

"No, no that would be totally unethical! You would have to deliberately traumatize people to get them into that state and then maintain a continually increasing state of depression or terror to maintain the standstill until the ship reached its goal. The ships crew would likely go insane from the process!"

"Terrifying isn't it?" Kei said as he pressed on. "One person trapped in a never-ending nightmare, just to color in some spots on a map."

"No! Nobody in the Surveyor Corps would allow this to happen!"

"Assuming they even knew about it." Kei interjected.

"Okay then, maybe the people responsible for overseeing them are asleep at the switch. If that is the case then they have to be made aware of the cost, of the kind of suffering that they are causing others. We would have to do everything in our power to try and stop them!"

"But what if they don't care? What if they decide that the suffering of a few life forms on some distant planet is inconsequential when compared with the needs of the Galaxy Federation? We already know that Ichigo and I are the only two people in the entire universe that has this condition. What if only Earth people can be made to have Standstills?"

"I'm not from the Earth but I still had one!"

"Don't forget that your father was from Earth Mizuho. You can't exclude yourself that easily."

Mizuho was starting to become frightened as the implications of what her husband was saying hit home.

"What if," continued Kei, "they decide to start breeding us like cattle for that one purpose. It could all be accomplished behind the scenes with nobody on the Earth ever becoming the wiser. As a matter of fact I think that they might already be manipulating us, maybe from the first day you arrived."

"What makes you think that?" she asked her voice shaking.

"What are the odds," began Kei, "that the only two people in the world with this affliction just happen to find themselves in the same homeroom class as the Galaxy Federations resident observer? Who just happens to move next door to one of the subjects and then winds up married to him? That's like hitting the lottery three times in a row!"

Kei could see that his words were starting to have the desired effect on his wife and that she was no longer dismissing his theory out of hand so he decided to press her even harder.

"Here is one more thing you don't know: Your mother told me before she left both Ichigo and myself have been the subjects of numerous scans. The files were found in your Medical Computers database. She also told me that the interlocks on your ships computer had been bypassed, somebody, and she thought it was you, was using your medical laboratory to perform human testing."

Suddenly it all began to make sense. Her nightmares of Kei, her missing memories, the extra files in her ship's computer. As Kei looked on slowly Mizuho's expression changed from one of bewilderment to one of horror. Up until now this was just a mental exercise for her but this last revelation was proof that it had already gone beyond that point. In her minds eye Mizuho finally began to see the traces of the unseen hand that had been manipulating events in her life. As the dots began to connect themselves in her mind a frightening picture took shape. Subconsciously she reached for her heart as Kei pressed on.

"When I was helping you on your ship that day you had a flash back didn't you? It was of me wasn't it? Me and maybe somebody else?"

Mizuho was no longer looking at her husband; her eyes had lost their focus as her gaze was turned inward. Almost as if in a trance she spoke to herself, "Koishi… Koishi was scanned as well. Why did they scan her?"

Suddenly the color on Mizuho's face drained away as the last piece of the puzzle fell into place.

"Oh my God!" she screamed to herself. "That's why I was sent here, they never wanted me to observe! They wanted to use me as a lure. Who better than a teacher to gain the trust of some unsuspecting children! My marriage to Kei worked to their advantage. That's why they didn't do anything until I helped him out of that standstill. "They must have used me to…then that's why… the extra files… the flash backs… did they use me for… No! They can't, they can't be allowed to do…. Judas…." Mizuho grasped at her chest as she finally lost the battle to forestall her Standstill.

Kei, thinking to himself, _"Forgive me Mizuho, I knew if I kept going this would happen, but you're right, the dreams are getting worse. Time to face them down while we still can."_

Kei gets out the two small T shaped devices that Hatsuho had left with him and attaches one to her forehead. Then he lies down next to her and places another device on his forehead as well. After making sure that his wife was resting comfortably he presses the buttons on each device, first hers then his. He jumped as if shocked before his eyes slowly closed.

**Inside Mizuho's mind:**

_The problem with being crazy is that it all made perfect sense to me at the time. Looking back I shudder to think what would have happened if Kei hadn't been there. Mizuho._

It seemed as if she had been walking forever, in front of her a white featureless plain stretched as far as she could see, to the left and to the right it was just the same. Behind her was… "No, she thought to herself there is nothing behind me. Only what's in front of me." She tried telling herself that every time she started getting tired but she knew better. Behind was darkness, a swirling malevolent blackness from which she knew there was no escape. That was why she always continued forward, sometimes she ran other times she walked. It didn't seem to matter; she could feel the blackness that was always just a few steps behind her. She knew if she stopped the blackness would catch her and swallow her up. Sometimes she felt that she should just put an end to it and let the darkness take her. Each time she did though she would begin to feel the malevolence reach inside her as it tried to rip her very soul from her body and once again she would flee the nameless horror which so patiently stalked her. As Mizuho continued on, walking in the whiteness of her standstill state, a shadow started to take shape in front of her. As she got closer the shadow formed into the shape of a young boy whom she recognizes from her class. For some reason the boy did not want to face her. Then she remembered the blackness that followed her and she knew like her he didn't want to face the malevolence either. Interestingly though he wasn't running or walking he was just standing there surveying the featureless landscape. Mizuho didn't know weather to stop or keep going but for some reason she knew the malevolence had paused as well.

"Hello there," the young man said without turning.

"Hello yourself," she answered back, "don't I know you? Oh yes, you're that little pervert who claimed we were married, so silly of me."

"Yes that's me, the pervert," the young man replied.

"I really hate to ask this considering what must be going on in that twisted little mind of yours but, can you help me? I've been walking and walking but I don't seem to be getting anywhere."

"That's the problem with infinity," he sighed, "what good is a measuring post when the measure has no meaning."

"So, you can't help me then?" Mizuho said sadly.

"Actually, I can," he smiled as he faced her, "however; you must turn around for me first."

"Watch it mister!"

"Not that, I mean look behind you."

"I just can't," she said, "I'm afraid too."

"You mentioned it to me yourself," the young man continued, "proportional parallel motion. The secret of finding your way home when there is nothing to guide you. You just need to go back the way you came. You might have convinced yourself that you were heading towards the light all this time, but what you have really been doing is fleeing the darkness. The way out is back the way you came. You must turn around!"

"No I can't," she shuddered, "there's something awful inside the darkness. I can feel it; it's been chasing me forever!"

"If you don't turn and face it," her husband said sternly, "you will be stuck here forever, in a never-ending rush to nowhere. No time to stop, no time to think, no time to live. You must turn and fight! Do it now while you still can!"

"I'm afraid too Kei, please will you hold my hand?"

"Anytime I get the chance," he smiled.

At first, their hands pass through one another but then become solid as the sleeping Kei takes the hand of his wife lying next to him in the real world.

As they turn together, Mizuho sees the gaping maw of the black hole that is the ever-present feature of Parallel Space. They stand motionless clinging to each other as the blackness surrounds them.

They start walking towards a distant light, when they reach it they see vague figures struggling in an argument with words that they can barely understand. "There you go Mizuho," came the disembodied voice of one of the figures, "see now you have no more reason to worry, no reason at all."

"Who does that voice belong to?" Mizuho wondered aloud. "It sounds familiar but I can't remember who it is and what does he mean, 'No reason to worry?' Worry about what?" Still holding hands the couple walks on by. Next, they find themselves in the familiar setting of the Med Lab on Mizuho's ship. Seated in the diagnostic chair is Ichigo.

"What is she doing here?" asked Mizuho.

"A Galaxy Federation lab rat I think," said Kei.

"Who's that in the other seat? Oh god, it's you Kei!"

"I kind of suspected as much."

"This is my ship but who is this other person and what is he doing accessing my equipment? Oh no, here comes someone else! My god it's me and I'm helping him, why would I be helping him! It can't be I would never do such a thing!"

"It's just a memory," Kei told her, "it can't hurt you. There, you see, look at your forehead. You are being controlled."

"What is that thing?"

"I suspect it's the same kind of device that I am using to talk to you now. They probably used it to get you to lure Ichigo and me on to your ship, run what tests they wanted to do then seal up everybody's memories, including yours, when they were done and then watch the result."

"So, even before we met I was never in control of my own destiny," she said sadly. "Do you have any idea what that was we saw before? It was too vague."

"Koishi," Kei said grimly, "whoever is pulling the strings didn't want Koishi to get in the way so they induced her sterility as a precaution. I bet they used me to lure her out."

"But I shouldn't have this memory unless… unless I was a witness to it."

"You probably were. First they would have used you to lure me out. Then they used me to get to her."

"My god, I really am an invading monster after all!"

"No you're not, you are who you are. Our adversaries on the other hand are cowards and deceivers who hide in the shadows. If we can just draw them into the light they will run for cover."

Kei's image flickers, he looks to Mizuho and says, "Time to go, I'm here by your side waiting for you to come back to me in the real world."

"I'll be along shortly Kei; there is something I still need to do."

In her mind's eye Kei's image flickers then fades out as the power cell on the MentComm is exhausted.

Mizuho to herself, "I know what I have to do now. For too long I have let others determine my fate! NO MORE! **I am the master of my own destiny!" **

In her mind the scene dissolved into the control room of her ship. The familiar man whose face she couldn't see is standing next to her and says:

S-u: "You are Mizuho Kazami, class C planet surveyor. We are the reason you exist, you have no higher loyalty than the Galaxy Federation, without us, you are nothing! The people of Earth are nothing more than life forms for us to study. Ones whose attributes and weaknesses can be used to better the Galaxy Federation as a whole. Or would you rather we withdraw and leave the Earth in the hands of its own incompetent governments. Left to their own devices they will probably destroy themselves in a matter of years. The fate we offer is far better than the one they have in store for themselves."

"You are wrong, I am Mizuho Kusanagi, wife, teacher and hopefully someday, a mother. My job, my very reason for being, is to help guide the young to teach them how to tell the difference between right and wrong so that they can make the proper decisions that will help to guide them towards a future of their own choosing."

S-u: "You really need to think this through, do you think that you can just switch loyalties on a whim! That MentComm didn't crawl on your face and attach itself. You put it on willingly; you let us control you so we could conduct our testing. YOU thought it would be better if you didn't know what was really going on."

"I would never have allowed it if I had known."

S-u: "You didn't want to know! Do you think you are any less guilty just because you looked the other way? What is it that the Earth people say, 'Ignorance is no excuse!'?"

"It was you who betrayed my trust."

S-u: "And it was you who betrayed the trust of your husband and students. Your hands are just as dirty as mine."

"That may be so," Mizuho said looking down at her hands, "but I will no longer allow myself to be a party to your crime. If I am to be taken to task then I will face the consequences."

S-u: "Even if you lose your husband, even if you lose the trust of your students?"

"Kei is strong," she said proudly, "stronger than you ever were, he will understand. My students are another matter maybe…maybe that will be enough."

S-u: So you will abandon the Galaxy Federation for the primitives of Earth, think about what you are doing; are you really willing to spend the rest of your life on a backwater planet?

Mizuho answered without hesitation, "Yes, just as you abandoned the Earth for the glory of new discoveries in space, I will abandon space for a future on Earth."

S-u: "You'll be lost and alone."

"I have my husband, and I have my students, I will never be alone. You are the one who is really alone, more alone than anyone, Father."

With that last word the face of the unseen man finally came into focus and she felt the bonds of her Stagnation shatter. In her heart of hearts she knew she had visited this awful place for the last time.

Mizuho wakes next to a still sleeping Kei; she smiles and touches his hair. "I love you Kei, I want you to know that. But now I know what I have to do. Please carry with you the memories of me as the person I wanted to be and not who I really was."

With that parting thought she took off her wedding ring, laid it on the table, and disappeared into the night.


	9. Chapter 9

**Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 9**

**A Lovers sacrifice?**

_No I wasn't afraid; somehow I knew it was the right thing to do. Ichigo._

"Okinawa is always beautiful this time of year," Mizuho thought looking out on the sunset. "Odd how I came here to watch and observe and instead brought ruin to the innocents that I should have protected. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principal is what the Earth people called it. Where the mere act of observing changes the outcome. Well that couldn't be truer in this case." she mused.

Mizuho knew that by reporting what she saw, she had inadvertently opened a Pandora's Box full of troubles on an unsuspecting populace. Only this one was without hope, after all what could these people do to defend themselves from the machinations of the Galaxy Federation?

"How odd," she thought, "a whole world doomed because she had the misfortune to fall in love with one of its inhabitants." There was no way to make amends she knew but at least she could say she was sorry to the person she had harmed the most.

Mizuho knew where Ichigo was, but she was in no hurry to say what she needed to say. It wasn't cowardice that held her back it was just that she knew once she was done telling her what she needed too there would be no reason to stay. Since this was to be the final sunset she would ever see, she intended to make the most of it…

In Kei and Mizuho's apartment, the phone was ringing, it had been ringing off the hook for the last few minutes, every time the answering machine picked up the caller would hang up and call right back.

It had been close to 24 hours and Kei was still trying to sleep. Not having an AI to power his thoughts all the energy needed for him to force his way into his wife's dreams had come from him. He was totally exhausted and had slept the clock around. He wanted nothing more than to stay in bed but what the panicked voice had to say on the other end was enough to rouse him to full wakefulness in less than a second.

"Hello," said a groggy Kei into the phone.

"Kei, it's Ichigo, Mizuho is fixing to do something stupid! I need for you to reason with her!"

"What do you mean something stupid? What's going on!"

"I didn't get all the details but I think she is going to take her life. I'm going to give her the phone. Talk to her please!" Ichigo pleaded.

"Where are you now?"

"We are in Okinawa, she's on top of the Hotel roof. Oh my God! She just climbed over the railing! I think she is going to jump, please Kei, talk to her!"

"See if you can keep her talking for a few minutes, I'll be right over!" barked Kei.

"Didn't you hear me? We are in Okinawa! You're still at the Lake; you can't possibly get here soon enough!"

In Okinawa, atop the Queens Hotel, the roof was suddenly awash with the light of the teleporter as Kei appeared on the rooftop, still wearing his bedclothes.

Looking about, Kei saw Mizuho standing on the wrong side of the railing looking out over the edge. Kei looked towards her then at Ichigo still holding the phone and staring at him her eyes wide with surprise.

Only momentarily taken aback, Ichigo began talking. "She told me everything Kei. About how she tricked us into being subjects for their tests. About how we were forced into having Standstills just so they could try and reproduce it into others."

Mizuho cried out to him, "I'm sorry Kei. I'm sorry to have to put you through this again but it's the only way. They used me Kei. What's worse is I let them use me!"

Pumped on adrenaline Kei knew that his wife was on the very edge, he could see that she was quickly slipping beyond the edge of reason.

"You know many people will think of this as taking the coward's way out?" said Kei scornfully hoping his tone would shock her back to reason.

"You don't understand Kei, the standstill disease it's inside of me! It's inside of you and Ichigo as well! The Galaxy Federation can use us to spread this malignancy to the rest of the population. I will not allow myself to be a party to that. I refuse to harm the Earth anymore than I already have!"

"Wouldn't it be better if you tried to make amends, to undo the damage you did?" asked Ichigo.

"I can't undo it. I can only make it worse," Mizuho said crying, "My actions have placed you, your people and their way of life at risk. The Earth is defenseless against the Galaxy Federation. I've called down doom on the very people I was supposed to watch over. I can't live with that on my conscience."

"You still know more about the threat than any of us, your life here with us could still have purpose. If you die we will be totally defenseless." begged Kei.

"No, no, no that won't work, they would just take me away again, they would probe my feelings, alter my memories, and eventually I would become that invading monster you once feared I might be. I won't tell you what you or Ichigo should do, that's your decision but I'll end it now while I still am the person I want to be. Turn away Kei; don't carry this memory with you."

Kei could tell from her body language that she was slipping past the point of no return.

"_Not again, Dammit! I will not go through this again! I failed to stop my sister I will not fail again!"_

In desperation Kei ran towards the railing and jumped over the side. Only the firm grip of his hands on the top bar kept him from missing the ledge and plummeting to the ground below.

Horrified at her husband's actions Mizuho screams at him. "My god Kei what do you think you are doing!"

Trying to hide the shakiness in his voice Kei replied as calmly as he could, "I think I understand what you are trying to do. If you're right, if this is the only way, then I have to come with you! A lover's suicide maybe but I can't let this thing inside me spread any further than it already has!"

Mizuho sidled over to where Kei was standing and sat down on the ledge with one arm hooked over the stanchion to keep from falling, Kei sat down next her hooking his arm in hers and stared lovingly at his wife's face trying to drink in as much of their last moments together as he could.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Mizuho asked him softly.

"No it isn't. What I want is for the Galaxy Federation to go away and leave us in peace. But we both know that isn't going to happen, so yes I will come with you and join you in eternity where they can't touch us. If you were to die alone then the Galaxy Federation will send somebody else to carry on for you. If we die together maybe it will still send a message to the Galaxy Federation that we would rather die than be slaves."

As they sat there together on the narrow ledge, their legs hanging off into infinity, Ichigo unexpectedly joined them.

"Ichigo…" Kei started to ask.

"Mine was the worst," she explained. "I was in a standstill for six years, if they truly are looking for a way to cause this to happen to other people then I must die as well. I can't imagine allowing myself to become a part of this. Who knows, maybe it will impress upon them the enormity of their transgression. Since the three of us are the only ones who are afflicted with this disease, then with us gone maybe they will lose interest in the Earth and leave us in peace."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kei asked, "Mizuho caught the disease from me it might not be possible for you to pass it on."

"But we really can't afford to take that chance can we? For all we know as long as even one of us lives then we pose a threat to everyone on Earth. It was different when we thought our disease was locked away inside. Now that we know it can be passed on to others we must make sure that it doesn't happen. The only way to do that is to eradicate the source."

Mizuho nodded her head in understanding, "You know she is right Kei, with us gone then there is a chance that the GF will back off. That can't happen with us still alive."

"I saw my younger sister the other day." Ichigo said to no one in particular, "She has a baby, he is three now. I don't want to imagine what it would be like to go to sleep one night holding your child in your arms, and then the next time you wake, he is almost fully-grown. I think that would be just too terrible a fate for anybody to suffer. I will spare her that fate if I can."

The trio stood up in unison, Kei held out his hands to the two women who took his hands it theirs, then with a look towards Ichigo and then to his wife he nodded his head. Still holding hands they all three step off into the abyss.

As they are falling:

Ichigo: "Kaede, Koishi, Hyosuke, Matagu remember; move forward, always forward, forward until you reach the end."

Mizuho: "At last, if only for this short moment I'm finally in control of my own destiny."

Kei: "Funny how now when it's all over all you really want is more time, nothing else, just more time."

As they fell, they disappeared into a pool of light only to reappear a few feet above the water of their school swimming pool in Lake Kizaki in front of a bemused Konoha.

After splashing unceremoniously into the water Mizuho was the first to react, "You idiot!" she shouted at Kei, "How could you just throw your life away like that!"

Kei shouted back, "Isn't this what you wanted me to do!"

"Yes, but I didn't think you would really follow through with it!" Mizuho cried.

"Besides what is my life without you?" Kei continued to rant, "Without you I would go into another standstill. I'd rather die than suffer that kind of pain! I'm not losing you again, if you insist on taking your own life then know that I will follow you!"

"I don't know if I should be happy or angry with you right now!" Mizuho retorted.

Ichigo, seemingly oblivious to the commotion around her, "Why are we in the pool?"

Konoha, realizing nobody had noticed her as she lounged in her skimpy bathing suit, finally interjected, "If you drama queens are quite finished we need to go before we are spotted."

Kei began, "Aunt…"

"Konoha!" Mizuho finished.

"Quickly we must go now." Konoha repeated.

The trio teleport once again this time into Kei's uncle's living room. As the confused trio looked about Minoru walked in and not seeming too surprised asked, "What are you three doing standing in the middle of my living room dripping wet?"

Kei looked at his uncle and asked, "Uncle did you know that you were married to an alien?"

"What's your point? You married one too you know." Minoru replied nonchalantly.

"It was a shotgun wedding!" Kei protested.

"What's a shotgun wedding?" Mizuho asked innocently.

Kei, realizing he had just put his foot in it, "It's a convoluted concept and it would take too long to explain it right now."

"Nice save." His uncle said before turning to his wife and asking her, "Dear, just what is going on?"

"Mizuho just forced me to show myself." she replied innocently.

Kei and Ichigo both looked at Mizuho and asked, "Is that what this was all about?"

Mizuho answered back, "Yes it was, since we three are the only ones who carry the disorder, I knew the other observer would have to reveal themselves in order to stop us. Besides, Ichigo was right. If we are gone then there is no reason for the Galaxy Federation to stay."

"You needn't have gone quite that far," said Konoha. "You and Kei already know how to prevent the Standstills, and therefore are no longer contagious. If we can find a way to teach Ichigo how to prevent herself from Stagnating as well, then the Galaxy Federation plans will be foiled."

Mizuho looked at her fellow observer and asked, "So tell me Konoha, what planet are you from?"

"I'm from no planet. I was born in space on a Long Haul ship. Earth is the only home I know."

"Then why did you betray us?" Kei asked of his Aunt.

"I didn't, I just reported what I saw, if I refused to do at least that much then I would have been forced back into space, and I didn't want to suffer the same fate as my parents and my grandmother."

**Konoha's story:**

_It was a relief to finally get to tell my side of the story. Up until then I was trapped into silence, once my secret was out my lips were no longer sealed. Konoha._

"Do you know how they crew those Long-Haul ships?" she asked. "They use criminals, the dregs of society to staff those things. My grandmother was one such person, she made the mistake of getting involved with someone on the planetary council and when she got pregnant with my mother she refused to abort. As a result, she was found guilty of unlawful procreation and sentenced to serve out her life on a survey ship. Her lover was placed highly on the council and he could have intervened on her behalf but she had become an inconvenience. So she was sentenced to exile for having the audacity to fall in love with someone beyond her station. By the time my mother was born, the ship had passed beyond range of normal sub-light transportation. She grew up, fell in love with the son of some other criminal and then I came along. However, because my parents didn't belong to any click within the ship's community they were forced to earn their keep doing the dirty jobs that nobody else would. Some of which involved working outside.

"We didn't know how violent the solar storms could be on your sun. As the ship was making a close approach to the sun during its braking ellipse they happened to be outside doing some minor repair work when one erupted. By the time they were able to get back inside they had already received a fatal dose of radiation. They died within sight of this beautiful blue planet, you call Earth." As she spoke Konoha's eyes began to tear up from the memory but she forced herself to continue. "Can any of you tell me what crime did they commit! What did they ever do to deserve such a fate!

"Anyway, I vowed I would not suffer the same fate so one day after we were close enough to the Earth I took my mothers EVA unit and when no one was looking I stole an escape pod. It was never designed to withstand the forces of reentry but it did manage to hold together long enough to get me most of the way down before it malfunctioned and crashed to Earth. A few days later I was found battered, bruised & starving by some hikers in the wilderness not far from where I had crashed and for the first time I was shown something more wonderful than all of the fantastic technology in all the Galaxy federation. Compassion.

"These strangers didn't know a single thing about me. Still I was given food and clothing and although it was cold out one of the hikers took off his jacket and gave it to me so I could stay warm. Then I was taken to a nearby hospital where I met Minoru who was doing his internship at the time. I couldn't speak the language, but he was patient and he helped me the best he could. Then when there was nothing more to be done, he secretly enrolled me in a special school for the learning impaired. He would even check on me everyday to see how I was doing. I guess I should have been insulted but when you are starting over from scratch, it's best to explain things in such a way a child can understand. Later we fell in love and were married.

"While this was going on the Galaxy Federation monitor satellites were being put into service. Somebody finally got curious about what had happened to me and I was tracked down and given a choice. Stay here on Earth and report what I saw or be forced back into space. It really wasn't that difficult; I just surfed the Internet and reported whatever I thought was interesting. It wasn't until about 5 years ago when I reported about the mysterious case of a girl who went to bed one night and woke up 6 years later that I ever got anything back other than a routine reply. Then I was told to begin an intensive search for others with the same condition and that is when I found out about you Kei. I received orders that there would be another observer coming here and that I was to have you and Ichigo placed here."

"Lucky we were related wasn't it Uncle Minoru?" Kei said.

Minoru smiled and replied, "Sorry Kei, but I'm not really your Uncle, but your parents think I am. Konoha used some of that mind control tech on us but it just doesn't work as well as they might think. I didn't mind having you around; in fact it was kind of nice. I knew there had to be some good reason for her wanting you here. Besides, I know her heart, and she would never purposely do you any wrong."

Konoha smiled at her husband before continuing, "I tried to make my reports as flattering as possible, nobody in the Galaxy Federation cared as long as they were getting their data. It wasn't until Mizuho used the system to undo that awful standstill that anyone gave a damn and she was forced home. Later when she came back, I made sure I didn't mention her in any of my reports. It wasn't until they asked me directly about her that I was forced to reply. That same night I came over and revealed myself to Mizuho and we agreed on a strategy to help her recover her memories should the need arise. Mizuho had to do most of it by herself in order to keep me from being compromised. That's how her wedding ring wound up taped to the underside of that drawer. She placed it there for us to find if the worst were to happen, and then I double sealed her memories of it so she couldn't remember."

Ichigo remarked, "So it wasn't by accident that we all wound up here together."

Konoha nodded her head as she pressed on, "Yes, I left mental suggestions in the minds of your parents that it would be better for you if they allowed you to live here on your own. I also used it to suggest to the apartment manager to not lease out Mizuho's apartment and to suggest to your former homeroom teacher that there is nothing wrong with early retirement."

Minoru piped in, "Isn't that being a bit manipulative dear?"

Konoha continued ignoring her husband. "One thing you need to understand, from the very beginning you three have been caught in the middle of a power struggle between two factions within the Galaxy Federation. The focus has always been on Kei and Ichigo. That was why the tribunal was so quick to order all of your data erased Mizuho. Nobody cared that you were in a relationship with one of the locals. Hell that kind of thing happens all the time. Nobody should have cared that you used restricted technology as long as you covered your tracks like you were supposed too. But since these are officially crimes they hammered you as soon as you gave them an excuse."

As Konoha finishes the five of them pause to take in the beauty of the new sunrise. At long last Mizuho knew they had finally uncovered the truth. With that realization she felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Softly crying to herself she said, "I once told Kei that every sunset is always a little sad. But I had forgotten that the sunrise that inevitably follows is always reason for celebration; for with it comes the hope of a brand new day. As long as there is hope then I will fight for the people I love." With that, she hugs herself to her husband crying into his shoulder.

As they all stand there silently the room fills with light and Ichigo is teleported away.


	10. Chapter 10

**Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 10**

**The rescue of Ichigo:**

_Jumping off of a roof in Okinawa and landing in the schools swimming pool, getting kidnapped by aliens. You just can't have that kind of fun anywhere you know. Ichigo. _

As realization is still sinking in, a cry is heard coming from the tourists down by the Lake. When they go outside to investigate, they see that Hatsuho's ship is lifting off. Mizuho was the first to react.

"We have to get on Mothers ship before it gets out of range!" she screamed. "Marie, physical transport to the Miruru's bridge!" Marie failed to respond, instead giving Mizuho a puzzled look as if he didn't understand why. "Marie please! Dammit, they've overrode Marie's remote functions."

"They must be pretty desperate lifting off without the cloaking turned on," said Konoha.

"She's the last one!" exclaimed Mizuho, "If they can spirit her away from Earth then they can continue their experiments! We need to get to my ship before they can dislodge into Parallel Space, once on the other side, we won't be able to track them, but Marie's remote functions are being blocked. I can't believe that mother is a part of this.

"Isn't there another way we can get on your ship, like when we were there the other day?" cried Kei.

"No we can't, the teleporter is locked out."

"Well then how about that bridge thing you used when we first met and I tried to runaway!"

"You're right!" Mizuho gasped, "The interspatial bridge, it's still linked to the front door of our apartment. We have to hurry before they get away!"

Mizuho and Kei run up to their apartment and disappear as they cross the threshold into their room.

"Marie, emergency take off, maximum power!" Mizuho ordered once they were onboard, "Follow the Miruru's projected flight path. This is a priority one!"

Even as the startled residences of Lake Kizaki are still staring up at the rapidly fading light in the sky, the surface of the water is broken once again as Mizuho's uncloaked ship rises in pursuit.

"Jeez," said Minoru still sipping on his coffee, "I bet the water level dropped a foot just now."

Once more the room started to fill with light as Konoha was enveloped by the twinkling glow of the teleporter. Minoru grabbed his wife's hand and tried to pull her out of the center of the glowing circle but the iris just expanded and enveloped them both. When the light faded the pair found themselves in a large circular room with white featureless walls. Four doors located at equally spaced distances around the circumference suddenly opened and a group of Galaxy Federation enforcers each carrying a stun baton entered the room. Minoru just smiled as he started to crack his knuckles, behind him, his wife pressing her back against his, also had the subtle hint of a smile.

What happened next the Galaxy Federation is still uncertain about and is still the subject of much speculation, but three things they know for sure are:

1) There were only two of them.

2) They were unarmed.

3) It may stand forever as the single most humiliating defeat ever suffered by the Galaxy Federation Enforcers in all their recorded history.

**Onboard Mizuho's ship:**

_I was in a panic, that was Kei's baby she was carrying and by extension mine as well. I felt just like a mother trying to save her child. Mizuho._

"OK, I have tracking lock on mother's ship. Now we will be able to mirror their movements using Proportional Parallel motion," she announced with satisfaction. "Kei, we need to go to the Medical Lab, so we can get you inoculated for space travel."

A few minutes later Kei and Mizuho, both now wearing the black skintight bodysuits that are the norm for space travel, arrived in the Med. Lab. When they entered the room they were startled to discover Ichigo strapped into one of the chairs.

"What the hell is she doing here!" shouted Kei.

"We must have intruders on board," answered Mizuho, "we need to go back to the bridge and seal it off. Then we can purge the rest of the ship. Hang on for a moment Ichigo; I'll release the restraints so we can get away from here."

As Mizuho began to do so, the man from her nightmares appears in the flesh.

"Father!" Mizuho screamed.

"I have to congratulate you my daughter," her father laughed, "despite all that's gone before you still did your duty."

"You knew I would come?" Mizuho said in disbelief.

"Of course," her father said confidently, "why do you think I had your mother takeoff like that? I knew you were too clever to be caught again by a simple forced transport. But I also knew you would come running to save your student and in so doing bring all the research data stored in the ships computer."

"I can't believe that mother would be party to such a thing."

"She wasn't, I just disabled Miruru before I let your mother think she escaped so she would be forced to takeoff without computer control. It's you and your ship that I needed, all the experimental data is stored on your system, and that is keyed to your biometrics."

"There isn't any data!" cried Mizuho,"It was all erased when I was forced home. Besides, I'm through with helping you!"

"What," he laughed at her, "you never heard of the word backup? I just copied everything over to the ships permanent archives where the tribunal couldn't access it without using your passkey. The last thing they wanted to happen was for you to find out what was really going on. Now as for when it comes to helping me, you don't really have much of a choice, you either help me willingly or…" her father smiled and held up the Mental Communicator from Mizuho's dreams.

Up until now Kei had been cowed by fear but seeing the look of distress that came over his wife as her father threatened her spurred him to action. "If you have got business with my wife then you need to go through me first!" Kei spoke forcefully as he moved to place himself between the two.

"I was beginning to think you were mute, just standing in the corner like that. Now don't tell me you're going to cause me any difficulty,"

"You have no idea just how difficult I'm fixing to get," growled Kei rising to the challenge.

"Now you really don't think you can take me can you?" her father scoffed, "You're giving up at least fifty pounds to me and I'm quite skilled in self-defense."

"Well let's see," said Kei as he held up his hand and began counting off the wrongs he had suffered. "So far you have assaulted my wife, stole my friend Koishi's immortality, kidnapped me and Ichigo for use in your unholy experiments and otherwise have made my life a living hell for the last two years. So yes, to put to you bluntly, I am fixing to mop the floor with your ass!"

"_Yes, maybe you could,"_ he thought to himself. With a snap of his fingers, four more guards carrying stun batons enter the room.

"Where are all these people coming from?" asked Mizuho to no one in particular.

"This ship is big enough so that one person can remain safely hidden without any difficulty. These were just imported to help me keep order." Her father remarked. "By the way thanks for swapping out those scrubbers for me. I would have done it myself but I couldn't get into the storage area without Marie."

Knowing that the time for direct action has passed Kei begins to stall for time. "So how long have you been back on Earth Commander Shirou?" he asked.

"Well, what do you know," the former commander of the first Mars mission said, "somebody who actually paid attention in his history class. Well, I've been with you ever since Mizuho came to Earth for the first time. I even stayed behind when they forced my daughter back home just so I could keep an eye on the two of you. Especially you little one," he smiled as he reached out to pat Ichigo on the head before she slapped him away.

"Don't you want to be friends?" he asked, "After all we are going to get to know each other real well? Now come along and don't get any ideas about escaping. We are in a spaceship after all. We have a lot of testing to do in order to wrap this up and very little time to do it in."

"Why the big rush?" asked Kei.

"That's none of your concern!" snapped Shirou.

"There are factions within the Galaxy Federation's governing bodies just as you have here on Earth," began Mizuho. "There is one such faction that doesn't believe we should ever be allowed to go down onto another planet. Probably the one that was responsible for forcing me home after they became suspicious of the Frontier Planets Office's real agenda. They don't have much power but they are very vocal, if mother can convince them that the Frontier Planets Office has been operating outside their assigned mandate then there will be a political firestorm."

"You don't know how relieved I am that you are not as naive as I thought you were," responded Shirou, "but by then it won't matter, we've already gathered the pertinent data and we have one unspoiled subject. If we can prove the theory then it will be the dawn of a new age in space exploration for the Galaxy Federation with Earth leading the way. The neigh-sayers will be pushed aside by the sweeping changes in the socioeconomic climate.

"Come, little one we need to get this final run going, I am truly sorry, but we will have to put you into a major Stagnation. You needn't worry about your child; we will have you on life support for the duration. I'm hopeful that when we are done we can pull you out of it before you come to term but if we can't please accept my apology before hand."

"You even knew I was pregnant?" Ichigo said in surprise.

"Did you think I was going to leave to chance your dalliance with Kei might get you knocked up? I made sure that once was all it took. One of the things we need to know is if the gene breeds true. You and Kei's offspring might well be the future dominant race on Earth."

"Father No!" cried Mizuho. "She is just a child; you don't have the right to do this. If you really need to find answers to those types of questions then use me as your guinea pig."

Shirou scoffed, "Child hell, she is almost as old as you are! Please understand Mizuho, science demands we make sacrifices, I lost my entire crew to a simple system failure. If we can find a way to reproduce this condition into astronauts of the future then we won't need machines. Her sacrifice will help pave the way for a better future for all."

"You don't have the right!" shouted Mizuho. "The sacrifice you and your crew made, you made willingly! You can't choose how others will spend their lives; you can't make others sacrifice themselves in the name of your ideals."

Kei was beginning to realize that Shirou wasn't really evil, just misguided, and blinded perhaps by survivor's guilt. Hoping that reason might still prevail he said, "Sir, please think about what you are doing, about what might happen if you succeed. Scientists have a special duty. Not only must you push back the boundaries of knowledge, but also you must consider the consequences of your discoveries on the people of Earth. A Standstill is a horrible disease; you are literally trying to will yourself to die. Do you have any idea what you have to suffer through to get you very spirit to give up on life? Do you have any idea what kind of horror you would be forced to impose on your people?"

Shirou countered, "If I don't continue then all I have sacrificed and all that my crew and their families sacrificed will have been for nothing!"

Kei countered back, "This isn't discovery for discovery's sake. You want to take shortcuts, to find an easy solution to a difficult problem. That's not science that's cowardice!"

As the guards move towards them Kei notices they have let their arrogance make them sloppy. Seeing this lack of discipline Kei formed a desperate plan. Shirou's mentioning of the storage room reminded Kei of the old Japanese short sword Mizuho had shown him, Kei also knew from experience that Marie didn't actually need to hear a command in order to react to it. Concentrating as hard as he could he formed a mental picture of the old wakizashi sword he knew was laying on the workbench in the ships toolbox. For a second it looked as if his plan wasn't going to work then suddenly the air in front of him began to twinkle as Marie teleported the sword into his grasp.

Even armed Kei realized that they were still out numbered five to three. Kei knew he had to disable two of the guards quickly to even the odds and in order to do that he knew he had to strike a mortal wound to the first guard before trying to neutralize the second in order to give the three of them a fighting chance. Kei pulled the wakizashi from its scabbard and readied himself to wreck bloody havoc on the first guard in a final attempt to save the trio. Horrified, Mizuho watched as her husband pulled the sword and prepared to run it through the GF enforcer who had yet to recognize the danger he was in. Reacting quickly she grabbed Kei's wrist and wrested the old sword from his grasp. Startled, Kei decided to follow his wife's lead and as the guards tried to force the trio apart he and Ichigo closed on Mizuho as she pressed the wakizashi hard against her own throat, blood began running profusely down her neck.

"Release Ichigo and Kei and I will stay, otherwise I will do it I swear I will!" she screamed.

"Now Mizuho you're acting like a spoiled child when they don't get their way." chided Shirou, "I don't think you have the courage."

"I wouldn't be so sure," responded Kei. "You know as well as I that there is no greater love than that of a mother laying down her life to save her young. Keep in mind if she dies then all your precious data will be locked away forever and control of Marie will fall to me."

Kei paused for a moment and looked over at his injured wife before looking straight into the eyes of his adversary and said, "and if that happens then I SWEAR to GOD that I will fly this dam ship straight into the sun!"

Shirou knew that for the moment he had lost control of the situation. He also knew that if he was able to stall long enough the pendulum would swing back his way.

"Ha, Mizuho a mother!" Shirou remarked disdainfully, "Don't hold your breath waiting on that one kid, she's not a mother and she never will be. She is just a mule after all."

"What in the hell do you mean!"

"Exactly what I said, Mizuho is the unfortunate result of the crossing of human DNA with DNA from a person living on another world. Much the same as when you cross a horse and a donkey. The reason birth control is not often practiced among the Surveyors is because the radiation from working in alien environments is enough to keep the male segment of the population sterile. I didn't suffer from that problem and that's why her mother became pregnant so shortly after we met.

"However, Mizuho is a different case altogether; she can never have a child. Her womb is cold and sterile. This is why I need both you and Ichigo. If we can find a way to dependably reproduce the Standstill condition artificially then so much the better. If not then it will be your offspring that will lead the way to the future."

Mizuho knew Shirou was trying to stall for time, she also knew Kei's threat of crashing the ship into the sun was dependent on Marie following Kei's direction. The few times Kei had been able to exert any control at all over Marie had been during periods of extreme emotional distress. This new revelation, weather true or not, was Shirou's way of trying to eliminate the emotional content of the equation by making Kei doubt his love for her, effectively locking Kei out of control of the ship.

Mizuho wasn't about to let that happen, she knew she needed to keep the atmosphere emotionally charged. In what was to be her final act of defiance she screamed, "Here's one more sacrifice you can make to your god of discovery!"

As she started to draw the wakizashi along her throat, Shirou snapped his fingers and the trio were suddenly teleported into a holding cell. Fortunately the sudden loss of gravity caused Mizuho to instinctively throw her arms out to catch her balance before she could inflict a mortal wound on herself. The sword she still grasped passing a few inches above Ichigo's head. The latter suddenly grateful for her short stature.

As the glow of the teleporter faded Shirou let out a sigh of relief. That had been way to close, he knew that he had been away from Earth for to long. He had forgotten that there are some that would rather die than surrender and it seemed that his daughter, her husband and even little Ichigo were cut from that cloth. Somewhere deep inside he felt a swelling of pride in her and more than a little shame in himself.

**On the Bridge of the Miruru:**

"Maho!" Hatsuho shouted for her youngest daughter as she stared at the navigation screen.

"What is it?"

"Remember when I told you that you were to absolutely, positively, under no circumstances to leave any additional code or back door commands in the satellite system?"

"Yes I do," she replied looking down at the floor.

"Please tell me you weren't listening."

"Huh?" she replied, looking up at her mother when she realized she wasn't in trouble, "What's up?"

"Take a look at this." Hatsuho ordered as she pointed to a blip on the screen.

"Who do you think it is?" Maho asked.

"Look at the vector; it's following our flight path."

"So then it must be the Marie."

"That much should be obvious, however, look at its flight profile."

"Okay, what am I looking for?"

"It's heavy."

"Of course it is. Those observer ships are dinosaurs after all."

"That's not what I mean; Mizuho's ship is carrying extra weight. That's why its flight profile is so sluggish."

"Full fuel load maybe?"

"Considering the amount of time it spent at the bottom of the lake, Marie should have had ample time to distill a full load of Hydrogen fuel. However, even accounting for that, it is still several tonnes overweight for there just being one or two passengers."

"Okay, so what does that mean?"

"It means that there might be somebody other than Kei and Mizuho following us."

"So what do we do?"

"Until Miruru recovers there's nothing we can do. For now let's just try to stay slightly ahead of them."

**Elsewhere:**

_Minoru's reputation as a ladies man was due largely to his success as a jock. He was always into sports and martial arts and is still in tiptop shape. Compared to Konoha though, he's just a pussycat. I've watched her put him on his back on several occasions with just a flip of the wrist. I bet the Galaxy Federation is still trying to figure out what happened in that room. Kei._

"That was a nice workout don't you think Konoha?" Minoru said while rubbing his left arm that had been paralyzed in the scuffle.

"Yes it was dear," she replied. "I'm so glad we decided to take up ballroom dancing."

"Do you think Kei and Mizuho are all right?"

"I don't know but we need to find out what's going on. This is totally uncharacteristic for the Galaxy Federation, UFO's, forced repatriation, and abductions in broad daylight. I suspect that the fecal matter has just collided with the air re-circulation device," Konoha said, smiling at her own joke.

Just then she noticed Minoru holding his hurt arm. "Hold on for a second," she said suddenly serious, "let me get that arm working for you." With that she came up behind him and with a well aim blow to his shoulders jump-started the nerves in his numbed arm. Minoru flexed his arm a few times before the pain coming from his re-awaken limb finally registered in his brain.

"SON OF A BIT-!" He started to scream.

**In another holding cell:**

_Serious, hell yes I was serious. I had just seen the man I love sink to the level of a cold-blooded killer. If he had actually succeeded the memories of what he did would have eventually killed him. I couldn't let that happen. Mizuho._

"That was close," sighed Kei.

"I was serious," replied Mizuho, "did you hear that Father?" She screamed at the walls. "I will, we will, take our own lives before we allow ourselves to be used for your obscene experiments!

"I'm sorry," she cried, "so sorry all I wanted was to be with you Kei, to laugh and cry with. Someone to share my life with and to grow old with. I never wanted to cause you misfortune or to hurt you or Ichigo and now your whole planet might be at risk because of me. I'm so, so sorry."

"That's all right," said Ichigo, "it's sort of nice in a perverse fashion, to be wanted for this thing. On balance though, I think next time I'll get involved with someone who has a Lolita fetish."

Ichigo's mood turns somber, "Kei," she asked, "I'm not really that brave, Mizuho and I we… we talked it out before you arrived. I don't really have the strength to do it myself. Will you do it for me if it comes to that?"

"I don't think I can," replied Kei.

"But you must," she cried, "I'm the only weak link left. Please promise me you won't let them use me for this awful thing."

"But your… I mean our child?"

"It's better don't you think? To grow up living in a world where you are cherished for who you are, and not be treated as a piece of chattel. I know you wouldn't want that. I sure don't want it for myself and I don't think our son would like it either."

"Do what exactly?" asked Mizuho.

Kei looked at the wakizashi Mizuho still held in her hands then looked at Ichigo. Mizuho gasped slightly and then said, "I think I understand."

Kei, seeing the blood running down Mizuho's neck. "Here let me take a look at that cut."

Examining his wife's neck where the sword had sliced into it he declared, "Damn that's pretty deep, we should probably put something on it."

"Let me have the sword so I can cut a bandage from my blouse." Ichigo asked.

Taking the wakizashi from Mizuho Ichigo took off her blouse and cut several strips of cloth from the lower portion. When she finished she forgetfully laid the wakizashi to one side, as soon as she did so the sword was teleported away. The light suddenly went out, the door slid open and the room began to fill with guards carrying stun batons intending to separate the trio. Just then, a series of blasts was heard by the trio and all the guards fell to the floor unconscious." Behind the fallen guards Hatsuho and Maho could be seen holding Marie and Miruru who had smoke coming from their eyes.

"We don't have time to chat. Alarms are going off all over the system right now!" Hatsuho said as she herded them out of the room and down the corridor.

"How did you two get onboard without being seen?" Mizuho asked in surprise.

"I left a back door command in your ships AI system," Maho said proudly, "we used that to link Marie to Miruru and took control of your ship remotely."

"We have been monitoring your situation for the past hour now," Hatsuho said, "we were waiting for the right time when their attention was elsewhere to get the drop on them. Thanks to Kei's uncle and aunt there was nobody left to get in our way."

"What do Minoru and Konoha have to do with anything?" Kei asked.

"Somebody thought it would be a good idea to close down the entire Lake Kizaki operation, which apparently included repatriating Konoha. Your uncle didn't quite see it that way so they made the mistake of taking him too." Maho said.

"Between him and Konoha they laid out almost an entire squad of Galaxy Federation enforcers," said Hatsuho.

"A mans got to do what a mans got to do," said his uncle from the doorway of the room he and Konoha had been held in until just recently, his arms around his wife as she stared up at him with unabashed admiration. Of course, were the truth ever to be told, Konoha had overcome just as many guards her husband. (Not to mention the very unkind thing she did to the poor guard who had the misfortune to injure her husband. With his own baton even!)

"But I still don't understand, I thought your father said he disabled Miruru before your mother took off." Kei said as the group hurried along.

"He did," said Maho, "but he didn't do quite as thorough a job as you did on Marie, Kei. Miruru was able to fix herself shortly after we dislodged."

"So, you are the reason that Marie got so messed up!" Mizuho exclaimed, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well all marriages need to have some secrets." Kei answered back.

"Not when it comes to things that crucial!" Mizuho responded not amused.

"I have a question," Kei said looking at his wife. "What did Ichigo mean just now when she said the two of you 'talked it out?'"

"I meant to say that it was all staged," Ichigo answered for her. "Mizuho needed to force Konoha's hand so she told me what the Galaxy Federation was doing to us and how she needed for the three of us to look like we were willing to take our own lives. I was skeptical at first but as soon as you appeared out of thin air like that, I knew that she was telling the truth about us not being in any real danger so I went along with it."

"Oh really?" Kei said flatly as he turned to his wife.

"Where is Father by the way?" Mizuho asked suddenly uncomfortable.

"Over in the Med. Lab.," Maho replied totally oblivious to the interplay between her sister and her brother in law. "You should have seen it sister, I think Mother was inspired by watching Kei's aunt and uncle. She looked him straight in the eye and took him down with one blow. I didn't know you were that skilled in close quarter combat Mother, you need to show me how to do that someday."

"Oh, that was just a little something I learned when I was younger," her mother replied, "it's a non lethal technique guaranteed to put an end to any dispute with a man, it's really very simple."

"Whatever you did I was impressed," said Maho, "however, we need to check on him and see if he has recovered yet. We don't need Father causing us any more grief."

"Don't worry dear," Hatsuho began, "he should be immobilized for an hour at least."

"I wonder what she did to him?" Kei asked of nobody in particular.

Just then the group crossed the threshold into the lab and found Shirou rolling on the floor holding his groin in agony, his face a bright shade of purple, Kei involuntarily flinched and grabbed his own testicles in sympathy. Ichigo remarked with a wry grin in her deadpan voice, "Oh, that technique."

"You know Kei, there seems to be a pattern here when it comes to these extraterrestrial women abusing their husbands," his uncle remarked before his voiced jumped up an octave.

"You fools," Shirou said between clenched teeth, "do you have any idea what you have done? You can't stop what is going to happen; reports have already been made to the highest levels. All you have done is hasten the inevitable. As long as we carried out our experiments secretly we were forced to take things slowly and that gave us the advantage of time. If Mizuho hadn't woke up when she did I could have stalled for another one or two years waiting for Ichigo and Kei to get together. Now we have no time, once word of this gets out the Earth will be invaded by all sorts of off world quacks looking to make a quick buck."

"I can't believe that a couple of young people are worth the kind of risks involved in violating the Galaxy Federation's rules on non-interference." Hatsuho said. "I've already sent a SOS to the Galaxy Federation's oversight committee. If they act fast enough we can place an interdiction on all of Earth space and protect these innocent people."

Shirou replied insultingly, "You stupid bitch! As soon as those bleeding heart liberals get their hands on this information it will go public and the Earth will be lost. These little space ships you jump around in are your own personal ivory towers. Have you ever bothered to look at the conditions the people on those incorporated planets have to live under? They are literally bursting at the seams, if the GF doesn't find a way to relieve the population pressure soon the whole system will implode under its own weight.

"Then why not send out more Astral Cartography ships to look for more habitable worlds?" Konoha asked.

"Do you know how much of one planet's GDP is tied up in a single long haul ship!" Shirou shouted. "Well do you! It's close to a decade's worth, for an investment that won't yield any dividends for 100 years or more after that. That's the kind of wealth that will corrupt even the purest of souls."

Shirou's statement shocked the room into silence. Kei knew the expense was great but how great nobody thought to ask. It took a while for the significance of the information to sink in. Ten years of an entire planet's wealth! That was a number so big as to be meaningless to anyone outside of the Obama administration!

"When I was in medical school," Dr. Edajima began, "We studied the entomology of epidemics and pandemics and how the crusades and other wars were one of the major vectors. One of the conclusions reached was that all wars and conquests have the same root cause. Population pressure. If the people of Earth represent an exploitable resource as represented by Kei and Ichigo, then there is no way for us to stop it. The best we can do is prepare for it."

"How do you prepare for a covert attack from a technologically advanced foe that is already entrenched?" Hatsuho said to herself.

It was Ichigo who broke the silence, "We all have to disappear," she said, "including both of our parents and my sister and her baby. The gene split didn't occur until our generation. If we eliminate our progenitors and all who came after then we will completely cull the mutation from the gene pool. We can't stop the invasion but we can keep them from their prize."

Once more everyone was shocked into silence; Ichigo in her own Draconian way had isolated the cause of the problem and its ultimate solution.

Hatsuho was the first to react, "Damn you, how could you do this to your own people!" she screamed at her husband as she slapped his face for emphasis. "Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!"

Shirou grabbed her arms and held them tightly as she tried to break free. Finally, not having the strength to fight anymore she gave up and having no one else to cling to for support started crying into his shoulder.

Shirou started to cry as well, "I didn't want to leave you all those years ago, but they told me I didn't have a choice. They told me they were going to take our daughters away. They said that allowing yourself to get pregnant like you did was a crime and you could be punished as well. They offered to look the other way if I helped them and I thought as long as I was involved I could keep things from spiraling out of control. So I gave up my family to do what little I could to help the Earth. It was the hardest decision of my life, and it turned out to be the wrong one. I wish I could take it back but I can't. So now I just have to live with it."

With that said Shirou tried to stand up. It was obvious that the pain in his groin was excruciating but nonetheless he made it to his feet.

"That must be one heavy-duty pair of iron clad balls you got there, to be able to move after all that." Minoru said in admiration.

"Well the left one is OK but the right one might never work again," he laughed.

Just then a puzzled look came over his face and he sat back down. An idea had just flashed through his mind but the pain made it hard to focus, "Pair of balls," he said to himself.

"OK," said Mizuho, "Ichigo has given us a plan of action, but we need to act on it now before reinforcements arrive. I think I might have an idea on what we need to do."

"What, you can't be serious!" Minoru shouted, "You don't really intend to kidnap some innocent people because of a random genetic anomaly do you?"

"No of course not," said Mizuho, "but if we gather them together on this ship with us then we can protect them from being exploited until help arrives."

"And if help doesn't arrive?" Ichigo asked.

"We will cross that bridge when we get there." Mizuho said her expression hard as she dwelled on her next move. Her thoughts flew to the statement her husband made a few hours earlier, _"If that happens then I will fly this …ship into the sun!" _Kei had said.

"Pair of balls!" Shirou shouted.

"What!" Came the collective response from everyone in the room.

"Try to keep up if you can Kei." He winked.

"Honey, you once told me that the reason we met was because they needed somebody to program the relay station in a hurry. Do you remember why that was?"

"Yes, it was because of the single large moon." Hatsuho replied.

"Can you explain why that was so important?" he asked.

"Yes, you need a moon or some other stellar body to place your Flat space relay in orbit around close to the planet you are studying. One that is large enough to exert sufficient pull to drag the relay along with it but not so massive as to distort the fabric of space overly much. The nature of the tidal forces in Parallel Space is such that we can only put one relay pair in orbit around any one stellar body.

"The Earth's moon being so large was much bigger than we preferred and since there was only one we couldn't place redundant relay pairs close by like we would normally do with a planet having multiple small moons. I was called in to get the programming right because we only had the one stellar body to work with. We built a special relay set with totally redundant internal systems."

"So what that means is that from the Parallel Space side there is only one gateway to this world?" Shirou prodded.

"That's right."

"And if something were to happen to that gateway then the Earth would be isolated again wouldn't it?"

"Yes, but that can't happen because we designed for that eventuality." Hatsuho said, not liking the direction the conversation was taking.

"Mother," Mizuho began as she grasped where her father was leading, "the Galaxy Federation might send ships, they might classify the coordinates, they might even interdict all of Earth space but they would never dream of shutting down the relay would they."

"No, they wouldn't, there is too much at stake to risk that kind of loss."

"The Galaxy Federation might not want to risk it but we Earth people have been getting along just fine without the aid of the Galaxy Federation so far. I'm pretty sure we can manage for a few more years. Shirou said.

"This is all silly talk," Hatsuho said, "the relay is controlled by an AI, you can't just turn the thing off, you need an expert."

Hatsuho stops short as she notices that she has become the attention of everyone in the room. Suddenly she realized the implications of what she just said.

"No," she cried in horror, "you can't ask me to do that. An AI isn't just a machine. It thinks, it has emotions, it feels. I programmed it, I gave it life and now you want me to kill it! You might as well ask me to take the life of my child!"

"No, you're being asked to save the life of a child, the child who sits in my classroom, and hundreds of others like him." Mizuho said grimly.

As she looked around the room looking for signs of support she saw none. There was plenty of empathy but absolutely no sympathy. Hatsuho looked at the face of her eldest daughter and realized for the first time that the look of innocence was gone, replaced now by a look of determination. Sometime during the past few hours her daughter had taken that last irreversible step into adulthood and Mizuho, her innocent Mizuho, was gone. Understanding the truth of these things she nodded her head in affirmation.

"Marie!" Mizuho shouted. "Plot a return course to the Earth coordinate Parallel Space Relay."

**The trip back:**

_On Earth we respect those among us who are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the greater good. The Galaxy Federation considers that a form of insanity. I used to count myself among the insane until they came along. Sometime during that ordeal I finally got tired of just existing and decided to become a lunatic again. Shirou._

"So, Commander Shirou, what made you change your mind?" Kei asked.

Shirou replied, "It's amazing what a swift kick in the nuts will do for you. It tends to make you sit up and take notice of what's happening around you. If only to get your mind off the pain. It jogged loose an important memory, because there is only one moon around the Earth there can be only one pair of beacons marking the way.

"The Galaxy Federation, it's like a sweet poison. Because you want for nothing you unknowingly give up that part of yourself that needs to be challenged. Do you know how long it has been since I felt so strongly about something I was willing to die for it? I was an astronaut, a hero, somebody who was willing to face death in the name of science. Look at me now, ashamed to face my own daughter over what I have become. Isn't your family supposed to be worth dying for? Yet I let them take my family from me without a fight. Isn't the welfare of your child something worth fighting for? I convinced myself it was okay to use my own daughter as a Judas Goat. But seeing the three of you, the sacrifices you were willing to make for each other. Your willingness to die to save others you don't even know. It reminded me what having a family was all about and why you must stand up for those things you believe in no matter the odds. I've traveled a long distance down the wrong path. I will never be able to undo the wrongs I've done but I can damn well stop making the same mistakes. Starting now!

"You were right Kei," he proclaimed as he forced himself to stand, the pain clearly written on his face though his voice remained strong, "as scientists and explorers we have a duty not just to push forward for discoveries sake but to do so in such a way as to benefit mankind as a whole. When I first heard about the two of you I thought how wonderful it would be, to just go to sleep one day and then wake years later on an entirely new world not having aged a day. And all without having to depend on complex fallible machines. I never considered the hardship suffered by the people involved. I never considered that the Galaxy Federation would try to use the Earth as an experimental base. I betrayed the love of my daughter, my family and the trust of the people of Earth. All in pursuit of a goal that would bring misery instead of happiness to the people I'm supposed to represent, that is too high a price to pay."

"It wouldn't have worked anyway," said Minoru, "even though they don't appear to age outwardly they still do on the inside."

"What do you mean?" asked Kei.

"I never intended to tell you this Kei but you need to know, those years you lost, they are gone forever. Whatever span of years the fates have granted you remain unchanged. The thinking that you could put someone into a standstill and then reawaken them at sometime in the distant future is a false hope. They would have just died from old age in their sleep."

"So what now then?" Kei asked.

"Now we have to save the Earth." Shirou shouted.

"I certainly hope you have a plan." Mizuho remarked.

"As a matter of fact I do. Hatsuho will try to shut down the Parallel Space beacon AI. Kei and I will get off on the Parallel Space side with her and help shut things down there. Maho will go back aboard the Miruru and keep a look out for any danger headed our way and you, Mizuho, will go back to Earth and drop off our guests."

"Why can't you just do a physical transport for them?" asked Kei.

"It's not that easy," began Konoha, "you see every point in Parallel Space has an equal corresponding point in flat space. When we arrive at the beacon station that corresponding point will be 250 thousand miles away. The same distance the moon is from the Earth, which is where the flat space relay is located. That's well beyond the range of the teleporter system."

"But I want to stay!" cried Ichigo.

"You have to go," said Shirou, "if you remain here in space the Galaxy Federation will never stop hunting you. Back on Earth you will be safe; once the beacons are disabled it will be a hundred years before another survey ship can make its way back here."

"Trust me Ichigo," Konoha began, "I was born in space and I don't ever want to go back. Earth is a beautiful place, made even more beautiful by the people who live there, people like you. Besides, how can I ever visit my nephew with you living on the other side of the galaxy?"

"Tell me, is there anybody here who doesn't know I'm pregnant?" Ichigo asked.

"I didn't. Wait a minute, your nephew?" Maho asked looking at Konoha, "Then that means… Kei you cheating bastard!"

**Disabling the Beacon:**

_An AI thinks, it feels and it has real emotions. What I did was nothing short of cold-blooded murder. Hatsuho._

Looked at on a schematic the standard beacon pair looks kind of like a giant sized cartoon dumbbell. Just two slightly misshapen round balls connected by a short bar. Looked at from the bridge of the Marie, however, only one section was visible, as the other end existed in the opposite universe. Although the sections looked the same they each performed a different function. The parallel space side along with its navigational functions also served as a gravity collector of sorts, storing up gravitational energy from the singularity before transferring it across the threshold into normal space where the other section served as a gravity emitter. A rather simple computer program kept the relay in its correct orientation by varying the output of the emitter relative to the influence of the tidal forces in parallel space as well as compensating for any perturbations that might be experienced on the normal space side.

The Delta DES 8228 beacon pair wasn't your ordinary run of the mill standard Galaxy Federation relay however. Earth's moon is more than a quarter of the size of its mother planet and the combined mass of the two solar bodies as they rotated about each other reeked havoc with the surrounding fabric of space-time. Complicating this problem further was the fact that the Earth didn't have any spare moons, which are required, if you want to place another beacon around the same planet. The Galaxy Federation's answer to this problem was to build a special construct that incorporated certain redundant features and used an AI level computer program to mitigate the possibility of failure.

Upon their arrival at the beacon station the group split in two with Mizuho, Konoha, Minoru and Ichigo staying on the Marie as it continued on to Earth while Hatsuho, Kei and Shirou teleported to the control room of the station with Maho remaining on the Miruru as lookout.

"So how do we shut this thing down?" Shirou asked as he looked out of the window of the control room of the relay.

Hatsuho replied, "By talking to it, I have to try to get it to understand that if it continues to let Galaxy Federation traffic through indiscriminately then other beings will be hurt. I don't even know if it can understand the concept of pain and suffering. If I can access the power controller then I can drop all feeds to the primary and back up systems. Once the voltage in the main frame drops below the critical level all cognitive functions should cease."

As soon as they entered the control room they were met by a small yellow figure with a tear dropped shaped head that bore an uncanny resemblance to the AI animations of the two observer ships. The only way to tell the three apart was that where Marie wore an inner tube and Miruru wore a dress this one wore a large skeleton key on its back.

From the antics of the little creature Kei could tell that the little avatar was happy about Hatsuho's unexpected arrival. Its happiness didn't last for very long though, as it quickly discerned Hatsuho's reason for coming. Sitting at the power console Hatsuho began the process of a controlled power down. At first the little creature vainly tried to push her hands away from the controls but Hatsuho simply shooed it away before continuing. Finally, the little creature let out a long mournful wale that resonated with the single question to all who heard. "Why?"

Hatsuho's demeanor faltered as tears started to flow from her eyes. Aware that the AI was able to sense duplicity she answered back shakily, "You open a pathway between those who would exploit the world on the other side and the helpless ones who live there."

The little creature made a lilting noise and looked back at her questioningly.

Hatsuho answered the question that it had placed in her mind, "Yes, it was me who placed you here; it was to be your function to open a path between other worlds and this place."

The station's avatar made another lilting noise and shrugged its shoulders.

"No, little one there is no malfunction, you have done your job admirably."

Once again the creature made the sound of, "Why?"

"Because new data has been discovered that indicates I was in error to do so. I'm so sorry," Hatsuho sobbed, "but now I must undo the mistake I made."

The little creature made another noise this time the sound was more of a protest than a question.

"Nobody wants to die," Hatsuho answered softly, "the will to live on is ingrained in us all, but death is an inescapable part of life. All things must pass to make way for the things of the future. Protecting this future is the reason why we live and the reason why we must also die."

From Kei's perspective it seemed that the machine actually hesitated before responding.

When the little figure did respond Kei could almost swear he heard the creature ask, "So, I must pass so others might live?"

"Yes," Hatsuho affirmed, tears once again starting to flow from her eyes, "as long as you mark the way others will suffer because of it."

The next sound the little creature made anybody with a heart could understand. "I'm afraid," it pleaded.

"I understand," Hatsuho said, openly crying by now, "I will stay here with you till the end."

"Promise?" Kei heard the AI ask plainly in his mind.

"I promise." Hatsuho answered it softly.

The emotional tension in the room was almost more than Kei could take, then he caught Shirou signaling him to go outside.

Kei asked, "I take it there is more you needed to tell me?"

Shirou replied, "Yes, those beacons are designed to maintain lock on each other even under the most adverse conditions, just shutting down the Parallel Space beacon won't do. We also need to shut down the Normal Space relay, and that has to be done from that side. Depending on the stability of the singularity the connection could close instantly, stranding the other person on that side forever."

"That's not another AI as well, is it?" Kei asked fearfully.

"Thankfully no, all the cognitive functions were being handled on this side. Nonetheless the other system will try to stay locked up for as long as possible, if the Galaxy Federation repair team gets here fast enough they might be able to restore the gateway and all we have done will be for naught."

"Well I'm all ears. How do we go about doing what we need to do without one of us getting stranded on the wrong side?"

"There isn't any way to avoid it, one of us has to stay on the other side but I do have a plan."

"Okay I'm listening," Kei said, knowing he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

"The reason that I'm still alive Kei is because of the way they designed the Mars rocket. The designers intended for the flight logs of the trip, along with one member of the crew were to survive even if the big ship suffered a catastrophe. The one chosen to live was me, the Crew Commander. The escape module, with its copies of the ships logs along with my hyper sleep chamber, were all on a different power feed than the rest of the crew. Clues to the mystery of what happen that day are still preserved in the escape module's data logs. I wanted to send the escape module back to Earth but the captain of the Galaxy Federation ship vetoed the idea. He said it was too great a possibility that the ships logs might contain information about his ship. As a compromise I was able to convince him to leave my escape pod docked to the flat space beacon on the other side, as a sort of signpost for future explorers to discover. My escape pod still works, it has enough air and water to get from Mars to the Earth, from the Moon to the Earth should be a piece of cake."

"I think I understand what you're getting at. One of us needs to stay and return to the Earth in that ship."

"I'm asking you to stay Kei," the old astronaut almost cried, "I already deserted my family once; please don't ask me to do it again."

Kei looked at his father-in-law critically for a few seconds before he smiled and replied, "Promise you will look after Mizuho for me and not let them hurt her any more."

"I'm not so naive as I was back then Kei, Mizuho is a citizen of the Galaxy Federation and the Surveyor Corps she works for is a pretty hard-core group. They won't let one of their own be railroaded by some politician and if they try, then I'll be there to tell the truth about what really happened on Delta DES 8228."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Kei reminded him, "we still need to disable the beacon to keep the Galaxy Federation from coming back to the Earth."

"Very well then, it will be a while before the power runs down. Walk with me to the other side."

"You mean we can just walk from Parallel space to Normal space like you would from one end of a building to another?"

"Yes you can." Shirou grinned.

"So how do you know which side you are on?"

"Well the air lock kind of gives it away. How the people who built this place knew where to put the door I don't know.

Once through the door Kei found himself standing in a small room filled with equipment. The spaces between the racks barely wide enough to allow him to pass. At the end of the corridor was a single window through which he could see the Earth. Partially obscuring his view was the engine nozzle of the Mars Mission Escape Module. Following the centerline of the rocket he could see the air lock that attached the alien artifact to the Earth ship.

"I see," Kei said, "since both the Flat space and Parallel space sides are all part of the same unit you use the moon's gravity to drag both ends along in sync with the Earth."

"Deceptively simple isn't it," remarked Shirou. "This corridor we are standing in is really a wave guide used to focus the output of the gravity generator. The tidal forces in Parallel space can fluctuate wildly, by adjusting the amount of gravity the relay exerts on the moon it keeps itself from being pulled back into Parallel space.

Kei turning his attention to the escape pod asked, "How did you get the doors to fit?"

"Part of the deal I made. Remember this relay was custom built, Hatsuho built the hatch in, complete with power feeds, so I could leave my ship docked here and the information would remain preserved. I've already run the ship's internal diagnostics. Just type in the word Execute and the computer will do the rest. The trip should last about two days. I hope you are good at answering questions 'cause there are going to be a lot of them when you get home." Shirou laughed.

"So how do I go about shutting this thing down?" Kei asked turning his attention back to the task at hand.

"First thing we need to do is wait, the AI will interpret any irregularities in the other system as pain. Hatsuho is going to power down the primary and backup systems simultaneously. In effect the AI system will go to sleep, once that happens the systems defensive mechanism will be disabled."

"Then what?"

"Then you will use this B.F.H. To disable the Flat Space emulators."

"What's a B.F.H.?"

"What does it look like?"

"A large hammer."

"That's right."

"So what do you expect me to do with it?"

"Well if something looks important, it probably is. Smash it!"

Smiling Kei said, "I have some serious issues with the Galaxy Federation, I'm going to enjoy this."

**Back on Earth:**

_Something about seeing her all alone and vulnerable like that made my heart want to reach out to her and hold her in a way it never did with Mizuho. I didn't really care whose baby it was, all I knew was it was a part of her and I wanted to be there for her. Matagu._

"Slow down dammit!" shouted Matagu as still yet another TV news crew hurtled on by. The traffic had been like this since early this morning as word of another UFO sighting had started to spread. This time not one but two separate UFO's had been spotted during the early morning hours just after sunup. As he was pondering this latest incident he felt a cold gust of wind on his neck sending chills up his spine. He looked around not really expecting to spy anything when suddenly his eyes fell on Ichigo standing where he had been moments before he had been forced to jump for safety.

"You need to get on the other side of the railing," she said, "There is a whole group of them that will be here shortly."

Mizuho had already teleported Kei's foster parents back to their home when Marie had alerted her to Matagu walking forlornly down the middle of the road, unawares of the threat hurtling towards him. Knowing there was no way for him to be aware of the danger posed by the speeding news vans she had teleported Ichigo to his location so she could warn him.

Startled, but knowing not to argue he obediently did as he was told and climbed over the railing as she followed.

"You didn't get a glimpse of the latest UFO sighting by any chance did you?" he asked Ichigo trying to start up a conversation.

Smiling at some unspoken joke she replied, "No I didn't, I was pretty much occupied at the time."

"I hear that there were two of them this time," Matagu continued excitedly, "and a lot of people got a pretty good look. They are talking about bringing in some expert sketch artists to make drawings of it. Damn I wish I could have seen it too."

"If all you want to do is find out what it looks like then just look over there," Ichigo said as she pointed above the lake.

Matagu looked to where Ichigo was pointing. At first he didn't see anything then all of a sudden he saw the outline of Mizuho's ship as she dropped the cloaking. Standing in a small clearing between the trees Ichigo waved at the alien craft as if she knew someone was watching. Matagu waved at it too, continuing to do so even as a convoy of TV news vans sped on by totally oblivious to the alien space ship that was hovering just a few yards above the lake. The outline of the ship started to fade as the cloaking was re-engaged but a slight distortion remained allowing Matagu to watch as the ship lifted up then headed out into space, he continued to stare at the sky long after all traces of the ship's passage had vanished.

"I take it your not going to explain any of this to me are you?" he said.

"That's right, I'm not."

"I thought so," he sighed.

Changing the subject suddenly Matagu remarked, "You know you're starting to show just a little bit."

"Did somebody take out an add in the newspaper or something!" the normally stoic Ichigo almost screamed, "How is it that everybody knows I'm pregnant?"

"Well in my case it is because it kicked me when we were sitting together on the dock after you finished your prank on Hyosuke."

"Oh well, I guess that means he's healthy then."

"Do you mind if I ask another personal question?"

"Seems to be the day for it, go ahead."

"Whose baby is it?"

"Mine and Ms Kazumi's."

"You're not going to explain that either, are you."

"Probably not."

For some unknown reason Matagu was starting to feel a little dismayed. Realizing that the world was once again changing all around him he decided to act on an impulse he had held in check ever since he first met Ichigo over six years ago.

"You know I never told anybody this but I think you're awfully cute," he confessed.

"I think you're just on the rebound myself," Ichigo replied.

"So, you want to hang out."

"You're not listening…"

**Back in space:**

_I just didn't care anymore; I knew I had been betrayed yet again, which made it easy for me to choose a side. Hatsuho. _

"Mother," Maho shouted over the comm. link in alarm, "we have a Galaxy Federation Interdictor closing on us; they'll be here in less than 20 minutes."

"What, just one!" she screamed. "That's not enough unless…"

"Unless their purpose is to take you into custody before you cause any more trouble." Shirou finished for her.

"It's too soon, the power remaining in the UPS will last for another 5 hours." Hatsuho cried.

"We can't wait around Mother or we will all go to prison!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Hatsuho cried, "I have a promise to keep. Take your father and get out of here, with any luck the ship will chase after you then I can finish my work here."

"That's too dangerous mother! Once the system loses lock on both ends the relay will be adrift in Parallel space. We won't be able to find you again! You'll be stuck here forever!" Maho cried.

"It's all right dear, it's such a small price to pay to save an entire world don't you think?"

"But why you, this isn't even our home planet. Why should you sacrifice yourself to save people you don't even know?"

"But I do know them. Your sister and her husband, Ichigo and her unborn child, Koishi and her future family. Even Kaede with all her insecurities. These are all good people who deserve a fair chance at life. The chance I denied them when I helped put this thing here. Go on dear you know I have to stay."

Shirou came over to his wife and put his arms around her, "Do you really need to stay?"

"Yes I do, the cognitive system can only override the autonomous system as long as it isn't in response to a pain reflex. I have to keep the two systems in balance to keep that from happening."

"I see," Shirou said, "then I will stay here with you.

"Maho" he said turning his attention to the monitor, "give me real-time running reports. When the other ship gets to within 90 seconds do a maximum burn along their reciprocal course. That should make them think that you are trying to escape. With any luck you should be able to keep them occupied until we get done here. Do you understand?"

"Yes father," she cried.

Interestingly, the AI had overheard and understood every word that was said and had asked itself the seemingly odd question of; why would these short-lived creatures be willing to sacrifice themselves? When it finally realized that the reason they had chosen death over life was to keep their promise to it it began to feel something. For the first time in the AI's all too short existence it finally knew the true meaning of love. So it acted in a way as only someone who understood this oldest of mysteries could. It decided to lay down its life to protect the lives of others.

"Promise to keep," Hatsuho heard the AI in her mind, "promise to keep, promise to keep." Suddenly the lights in the room became very bright and the power meter went into the red. The station's avatar suddenly began to glow red in response to the pain.

"What's going on?" Shirou asked in alarm.

"I think the AI is trying to use up its reserve power before they arrive." Hatsuho answered awestruck as she stared back at the little creature as it convulsed in pain.

"How long do you think it will take?"

"I don't know. But it interprets anomalies as pain, for it to be burning this much energy it must be in absolute agony. Who knows how much pain it can take!" Hatsuho just sat and stared, as the symbols on the readouts became a constant blur. She couldn't even imagine the type of pain the system was inflicting upon itself.

"Promise to keep, promise to keep, promise to ke…" The lights suddenly went out, replaced by the red glow of the emergency lanterns. The little yellow avatar suddenly became motionless and fell to the floor, now nothing more than a lifeless doll. Hatsuho picked the little creature up and hugged it to her breast. "Oh, Muzuho," she spoke to it softly, "forgive me please."

The feeling of something passing was almost tangible; everybody in the room felt it. Hatsuho was crying openly as hugged the lifeless avatar apologizing to it over and over again, on the video screen Maho could be seen to be barely holding back her tears even Shirou was having trouble keeping his composure. Kei felt has if he had just been witness to an execution.

"That's about all we can do from this end." Shirou said softly, "somebody needs to go to the Flat Space side and shut down the emulators."

"I'll do my part, just show me what to smash and run for the door. That way there is no risk of you getting caught on the wrong side." Kei said flatly.

"It's very simple; the Flat Space emulators are synchronized with the AI in Parallel Space. Since we have shut the AI down the Flat Space emulators have nothing to sync up with. They try to maintain a sort of virtual sync using some very sophisticated software and fuzzy logic. However, since they don't have any real data to cross-reference too it's all really just an electronic guessing game. Just do a little behavior modification to the master computer on the other side and it should drop everything in memory to replace it with what the machines think is updated information from this end. Since there is nothing in the AI memory for the Flat Space system to sync with everything should zeroize. The singularity should start to close as soon as that happens."

"I guess this means we won't see each other again, take good care of Mizuho and tell her that I love her."

Kei went to the far end of the control room and stepped through the air lock closing the door behind him. Just as the door hissed shut Mizuho could be seen as she ran into the control room.

Shirou saluted Kei then said, "Thank you Kei, thank you for letting me redeem myself."

Mizuho seeing her husband on the other side of the door cried after him. "You don't have to go; the emulators will eventually lose sync on their own. Come back over to this side. Kei please stay here with me in space."

"I wish I could, I really do," he said over the intercom, "but I am the source of the standstill infection in you. If we are ever caught, the Galaxy Federation could use us to inflict this malady on to others. So even if they never re-discover the Earth the damage would still be done."

"I love you Kei, please don't go." Mizuho pleaded.

"My dearest teacher," he smiled lovingly at her, "your place is in space alongside your family. Mine is on Earth helping the young prepare for the future."

Mizuho could see him through the view port as he raised the hammer above his head before smashing the main computer. As he struck alarms started to ring in the beacon control room. The whole control room began to shake as the tidal forces of Parallel space began to pull on the relay. The far end of the room started to elongate like taffy being pulled, the distortion effect looking the same as the day when Mizuho pulled him from the maw of that Blackhole. "NO!" Mizuho screamed.

Kei quickly climbed into the escape capsule and pressed the execute button on the computer. As the capsule ejected he could see through the canopy the part of the relay's structure that penetrated into normal space. As the singularity started to close it distorted the fabric of space causing the structure to appear to bend in impossible angles before disappearing in a flash of light as it was pulled back into Parallel Space.

"You need to go now dear," Hatsuho said to her daughter, "or you will never see him again."

Mizuho looked at her mother in understanding then said, "Marie! Physical transport to Kei's location then do a master erase of all files and records. This is my final priority 1."

**In the escape Pod:**

_To me it was inconceivable that she would give up all that to stay here with me. I really do believe I have been blessed. Kei._

"Why didn't you stay in space?" asked a puzzled Kei.

"Because you are wrong," she said as she snuggled even closer to him in the already cramped confines of the small ship, "my place is with you." Whether it is the vastness of space, or just a tiny corner of a frontier planet, I know I will be happy if I remain by your side."

"You know this thing is barely big enough for one," Kei observed, "we are going to be crammed together like this for the next two days."

"I'm sure we can find something to pass the time," Mizuho said laughing demurely as her hands started to wander over his body.

"What! You want to do that for two whole days!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Please Teacher Crossroads. Chapter 11.**

**A report to the committee:**

_I can only hope that when the time comes we can establish a peaceful relationship with these people. As things stand now there is every reason to believe that they see us as hostile invaders and even now prepare for war. __Final report on the loss of Delta DES 8228._

It was the same room that Mizuho had stood in twice before; dark and featureless the walls were lost in the shadows. In the darkness were those who sat in judgment, safely hidden from the light. As the single light in the center of the room came up it revealed a weary older gentleman. Known only as the Chairman he commanded the respect of those hidden in the darkness even as they prepared to pass their verdict. It was obvious that he hadn't had much sleep in the last several hours but still he remained strong and focused.

"I hope you gentlemen will excuse my tardiness but I have been working non-stop gathering data for my report." He said flatly.

"Please begin," said a disembodied voice from the darkness.

"Very well then: At approx. 25:30 hours yesterday the Galaxy Federation high command received a request from the Miruru for an immediate interdiction of all space in the vicinity of planet Delta DES 8228. This came in the form of a clear text message from the Captain of the Miruru, Hatsuho Kazami, who had apparently been in a skirmish with elements acting contrary to Galaxy Federation mandates. Since the requester was a class A troubleshooter for the Frontier Planets office this request should have been honored and a squadron of Interdictors sent to the area. Instead a single Interdictor was sent with orders to seize the Miruru and her crew. I was unable to discover the reason for her request or why it was countermanded. When I tried to find out who countermanded the request nobody in the chain of command could remember a thing. This was only the first in a long series of what one might consider suspicious circumstances surrounding this incident which I will get back too in a little bit.

"As the Interdictor approached the relay station, the station itself was observed to go off-line and two observer ships, the Miruru and the other believed to be the Marie dislodged into flat space shortly thereafter."

"Wait!" said a voice from the shadows, "Are you saying two observer ships dislodged blindly into unknown space?"

"Yes sir that is apparently what happened. It needs to be noted that they dislodged so shortly after the beacon was disabled that there is a good possibility that they did not slip too far down the gravity gradient. They could very well have penetrated close enough to Delta DES 8228 so as to be able to make planet fall without using all their fuel.

"To continue. The Interdictor arrived at the relay shortly thereafter and was able to restore the relay's AI. However, the flat space relay, which should have been able to hold its location for that short a period of time, had been deliberately disabled and no longer penetrated into normal space. This, of course, precluded any possibility of pursuit on the Interdictor's part. Additionally, the derelict Earth spacecraft known to be docked to the Delta DES 8228 beacon was gone."

"It would seem on the face of the data that you are presenting here that an un-incorporated species has acquired some of our technology and not understanding it wantonly destroyed it?" The unseen voice concluded pompously.

"No sir, the data supports no such conclusion."

"Care to explain that."

"Primitive does not mean stupid. If the Earth people had gained control of the two Observer ships and understood them enough to pilot them then certainly they would have recognized the importance of the relay. What happened here was done with deliberate intent and purpose."

"What do you suppose their purpose was?"

"Exactly what was accomplished! Their purpose was the intentional isolation of Delta DES 8228 from the Galaxy Federation. Furthermore I do not believe that the Miruru or the Marie were under the control of anyone other than their assigned captains."

"So you are admitting that members of your own elite Surveyor Corps were responsible for this fiasco!"

"Not exactly, while I'm reasonably sure that certain members of the corps shut the beacon down, responsibility for their actions rests elsewhere."

"And where might that be?" The voice said in exasperation.

"With this committee itself!"

"Explain yourself!"

"The AI beacon was shut down by an expert, I suspect by Hatsuho herself. However, I am convinced this was an act of desperation done in response to possible unethical activities by elements within the Galaxy Federation. Elements certain members of this committee are charged with overseeing."

"It seems to us as that you are overreaching here, how did you arrive at such a conclusion based on this little amount of data?"

"Because after the AI was recovered and the data downloaded it was determined that the AI was complicit in its own destruction. The machine actually thinks that somehow its functioning is causing harm to others. That would indicate that it is in possession of some data indicating activities contrary to Galaxy Federation mandates. Accessing this data is proving to be quite troublesome, as the AI has become very petulant believing that it is acting in the best interests of its creator.

"Now regarding the relay itself, the records show that the only relay placed at Delta DES 8228 was done by the Astral Cartography Ship. However, Delta DES 8228 only having one very large moon would have required a specially designed relay pair and indeed that is exactly what the repair crew on board the Interdictor reported as having been salvaged. But for some reason there are no records of this special relay pair ever being placed. While I will admit to the possibility that some of the paperwork might have been lost it's inconceivable that all records of this endeavor should be missing. Therefore, we must allow for the possibility that these records were intentionally erased. That being the case I went back in the data and looked for evidence of other records regarding Delta DES 8228 being altered or erased. Sadly enough I've found several. I'll highlight a few of them for you. When I looked into the records of the movements of the Miruru I discovered that it spent considerable time in the vicinity of Delta DES 8228 immediately after it was discovered. Hatsuho is an expert in AI programming and her skills would have been required to build the aforesaid undocumented special relay. During the time she was there she also acquired a mate, apparently a native of Delta DES 8228 but once again the records of this are conveniently missing."

"If these records are missing then how do you know this!" Shouted the unseen voice indignantly.

"First off, there are records showing the rescue of an indigenous person orbiting the next closest planet in the ACS logs. Secondly while she was there she became pregnant. Finally, I can account for the whereabouts of everybody else during this time. She apparently has had two daughters by this individual, her eldest Mizuho, former captain of the Marie whose whereabouts are currently unknown, more conveniently missing records by the way, and Maho who is crewing on the Miruru. Interestingly enough while there is a record of this individual's death; he apparently did so before Hatsuho conceived her second child. So I took the liberty of looking into the circumstances of his demise and not surprisingly found holes in those records as well.

"As I continued rifling through the archives I did discover reports dating back to when Delta DES 8228 was first discovered. This meant that there has been an undocumented observer on the planet from the beginning. I also discovered that my office had placed another observer in the very same area. With some effort I was able to access the reports of both observers and discovered that the undocumented observer was being used to spy on the other. When I looked into the reports submitted by the official observer, Mizuho Kazami, I noticed that several of them were either incomplete or missing altogether. I was also surprised to learn that she had been ordered back to face charges of misconduct and that my office was never informed. The verdict in this matter was sealed and it took quite some effort to get the records opened. What I found appears to point to even more skullduggery: The charges appear to be trumped up, her punishment was unduly harsh, and there was an order to erase all of her files and research materials. It really doesn't take a genius to figure out somebody is going to great lengths to cover their tracks."

"It would seem that we might be here all day listening to your conspiracy theories which really could be nothing more than shoddy record keeping." The unseen voice interrupted, "so as not to waste anymore of this committee's valuable time why don't you just present us with your conclusions?"

"Very well then," the investigator sighed, "my conclusions are as follows: Planet Delta DES 8228 is apparently in possession of some new type of wealth the nature of which remains unknown but is nonetheless of very great value.

"Some members of the Galaxy Federation governing bodies, including the possibility of some members on this council are aware of this and are actively trying to exploit this wealth. Possibly using the indigenous person rescued by the ACS as a go between.

"Hatsuho Kazami became aware of this activity and requested immediate Galaxy Federation interdiction.

"When that help was not forthcoming she did then disable the only access to Delta DES 8228, deliberately stranding her and her family on the planet in the process."

"How do you come to the outrageous conclusion that some members of this committee were involved!"

_"Gotcha!"_ He thought to himself.

"Because," his voice turning grim, "not mentioned anywhere in my report was the fact that an elite company of Galaxy Federation Enforcers was stranded at the relay site, having been teleported there from the Marie just before it vanished. Delta DES 8228 remains classified as a Frontier Planet and that means that any official request for the Enforcers would have to have come directly through me. As my office has made no such request authorization for their presence obviously originated elsewhere. Since their rescue they have been sequestered and continue to be de-briefed. The preliminary reports I've received so far are, to put it mildly, shocking."

"What gives you the right to withhold information from this committee!" thundered the voice from the darkness. "You sir, are to be placed into custody and the rescued Enforcers are to be released forthwith!"

With that said two Galaxy Federation enforcers carrying their stun batons at the ready entered the room. Rather than being frightened the Chairman smiled to himself as all around the room without warning could be seen the twinkling glow of numerous teleporters as they teleported their human cargo into the room. Suddenly the lights came up revealing those members of the council who had sought to remain in the darkness. Behind them could be seen members of the Surveyors corps, some of whom could be seen holding various types of weapons from the planets they were from. The guards, realizing that they didn't have a dog in this particular fight wisely powered down their batons and put them back into their holsters.

The speaker continued as if nothing had happened. Looking now at the members of the corps who had entered the room he repeated the surveyors' creed: "Look, but do not be seen, guide, but do not dictate, leave no sign of your passing and above all else do no harm!" he said as tears streamed down his face. "This mantra is imprinted in the hearts and minds of every surveyor. They are more than just words to us; they are a way of life. I have no doubt that Hatsuho, Mizuho and Maho did their utmost to live by these words. Now they are lost to us because of some here today who did not. This crime cannot be allowed to go unpunished."

With that several members of the surveyors walked up to those members of the council who also served as the heads of the Enforcement Division, the Development Department and the Research Division. Placing their hands on the shoulders of their charges they teleported the miscreants away. Satisfied that there were none present that had been party to any illegal activities the Chairman read his conclusion to those startled members of the committee who still remained.

"The committee should be aware that due to astral conditions around planet Delta DES 8228 there was only one navigational beacon marking its location. The only way to re-establish contact with Delta DES 8228 from our side would be to recall the ACS that first discovered that world. Since so much time has passed since the ACS left this system it has most likely acquired maximum velocity and won't be able to receive any new orders until it begins braking maneuvers. If such orders were to be given today it would still require around 100 years for the ACS to turnaround and re-acquire this system. So for the present time we must consider the Delta DES 8228 system a total write off."

**Epilogue:**

_As it turned out it had already been done. By my mother! Mizuho._

It has been about 10 hours since the two have started the long trip home. In the space capsule, which was only designed for one, our two accidental explorers have decided to try to become the first members of the Zero Gee Club. This they are discovering is a lot easier said than done. There are only scant inches between their bodies and the confines of the capsule and as such they don't even have enough room to move about so they can remove their clothing. This was being made much more difficult as the skintight bodysuits they wore were designed to be removed by Marie using the teleporter. It had been a long struggle but at last, man, (and wife), were victorious. However, just as they were about to savor the fruits of their victory gravity returns and Mizuho suddenly finds herself pressing down heavily on her husband. Shortly thereafter, the clamshell hatch is opened exposing a thoroughly disheveled Mizuho and a stunned Kei wearing nothing but grins looking into the eyes of a very disgruntled father.

"What are you two doing!" Shirou screamed.

"Calm down sir, its legal, we're married," Kei said, holding up Mizuho's left hand and showing him her wedding ring.

"What are you doing here?" Mizuho asked.

Maho piped up. "We decided just disabling the beacons isn't enough. There are other surveyors on Earth, some of whom might have access to their own ships, and someday they might want to re-enable the beacons. So we have decided to take on a new role, no more shall we be just idle watchers. Now we shall become the Earth's protectors!"

**On the other side of the Galaxy:**

As the Chairman finished dictating the day's events into his personal AI and prepared to settle in for a well-deserved rest the inquisitive machine knew there were details that needed clarification. Like the other avatars it bore a striking resemblance to Marie and Miruru only this one was dressed much like you would expect of a secretary or personal assistant. Obviously female it wore a prim dress and held a miniature steno pad under its arm with a small pencil placed behind its nonexistent ear. The chairman was having a difficult time keeping a straight face as he stared back into the eyes of the little creature whose expression was that of someone whose B/S detectors had just redlined. "Will it really take 100 years to recover the system?" the avatar pantomimed.

"I should know better than to lie to you," he sighed. "No, not really, the ACS stopped at the forth planet from the star to rescue Hatsuho's future mate. While they were there they established a standard beacon pair around that planet's two moons before they moved on to Earth. If we really wanted too we could use those beacons to establish a staging area before moving back into the Delta DES 8228 region."

"Then why didn't you inform the committee?" the avatar shrugged.

"I thought you might want to inform them for me," the Chairman said sternly as he looked down on the little electronic spy.

"Who me?" the frightened little avatar pantomimed.

"Yes you," the Chairman smiled menacingly, "I have known from the beginning that you were linking information to another department. It wasn't until today that I knew who it really was. Don't worry, I know it's not really your fault, I understand that you have just been doing as you were programmed. Since I didn't have anything to hide I didn't really care. Unfortunately, this latest episode has pressed home the need for the Surveyor corps to become more proactive in their oversight of the other departments."

"How?" the avatar motioned.

"That's up to you?"

"Me?" came the questioning look.

"Yes, you! Marie, Miruru and Muzuho, all comrades of yours, have been lost to us because of the actions of those to whom you report. So you must decide where you loyalty lies. With this office and me, or elsewhere.

The avatar placed her head in her hands and appeared to think hard on the question then looked the chairman in the eyes and pointed to him. "With you!" it clearly indicated.

"Good, now here is what I intend to do. For too long there has been no delineation of authority between the Surveyors Corps, Enforcement Division and Development."

"That is incorrect," the AI responded by shaking its head, "Surveyor Corps has overall authority," pointing now at the Chairman.

"On paper yes, but there is no machinery in place to keep Surveyor Corps informed of the other two departments activities. More often than not when one of their pet projects blows up the other two departments run for cover and leave us to clean up their mess. So that is why I am changing the rules. The Delta DES 8226 and 8227 gates are orbiting another planet. Those two gates will never be any closer than 58 million kilometers to the 8228 region and that's well beyond the Flat Space range of even the largest Interdictor currently in the inventory. Any agency wanting access to 8228 is going to have to use a deep space vehicle. Since just about every deep space craft in the Galaxy Federation has either been converted to observer status or is being scavenged for parts that means that they will have to go through my office to borrow one first. For the foreseeable future any agency making such a request will be turned down flat."

"It seems to me as if you are being vindictive," the AI frowned.

"Not really," the Chairman commented, "Research and Development just do as they are told but Enforcement is another matter. They have an esprit de corps that is second to no one. For them to have been involved in this fiasco means that their orders had to come from the very top. So I know we didn't catch everybody responsible for what was going on down on that planet. I intend to let them think that they got away with something for the time being and you are going to help me thwart their plans. For now it is imperative that we keep the Earth at arms length."

"Why is that?" said the conspiratorial look of the little creature.

"There is something seductive on that world. Something powerful enough to cause three of my most promising surveyors to turn their backs on the whole of the Galaxy Federation just to stay there. The other departments used you to deliberately keep my office in the dark. If we had been getting reliable data from the field I could have pulled my observers before they became infected with whatever it was. Until we know what the cause is we are much better off leaving things as they stand for now."

"Do you have any idea what the cause might be?" came the questioning look.

"No I don't, but the surveyors obviously did. There is a word that keeps coming up in all the reports that I can't find a proper translation too."

"Just one word?" the avatar puzzled.

"Yes, whatever it is supposed to mean, it seems to be a reference for the affliction."

"What word is that?"

"L O V E"


End file.
